Like a detective with a microscope

SHANNON Clarke’s job has taken her from Brisbane, to London, and now Cairns.

The microbiologist said the same guidelines, and bacteria, were all over the world, making it easy to combine travel and work.

The Cairns Hospital grows around 700 microcultures each week and scientists like Ms Clarke analyse the organisms and send the results back to the doctors who then decide on the best treatment plan for each patient.

“Microbiology is hands-on, it’s one of the less automated departments to work in. I enjoy the problem solving, it’s a bit like being a detective,” she said.

The top science student at high school followed her passion, graduating with a biomedical science degree eight years ago.

Ms Clarke has been with Queensland Pathology in Cairns for a year.

“My work changes a lot. A normal day will be reading culture plates. We analyse blood, sterile fluid, anything really,” she said.

“You’ve got normal bacteria there all the time that’s not pathogenic and not causing an infection, but it’s up to us to tell whether it’s normal or not quite right.”

But one bacteria Ms Clarke had never seen until she came to the Far North, was burkholderia pseudomallei, which causes melioidosis, found in contaminated water and soil and spread to humans and animals through direct contact with the contaminated source.

“It is interesting. I have seen it a few times now. It is not common but it is not strange to see it up here. You always have to remember there is a patient at the end, though,” Ms Clarke said.

Twelve scientists are employed at the Cairns lab and rotate through 24-hour shifts to make sure staff are always on hand.