Credit where it’s due
My 2018 ended on an unexpected high. I was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to microbiology and science communication. I’m still flabbergasted. Several journalists have asked me what my greatest career achievement has been, and I’ve struggled to answer them. I feel like I’m only just getting started.
On reflection, I think my greatest scientific achievement has been the construction of some bits of DNA that make Mycobacterium tuberculosis glow in the dark.
M. tuberculosis is the very slow-growing bacterium responsible for TB, one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. In 2017, 10 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.6 million died from the disease.
Since 2010, those little bits of DNA have been sent to more than 100 labs around the world to speed up the discovery and testing of new TB medicines and vaccines.
As the bacterium needs to be alive to glow, we can use their light to see if they are dead or alive in real-time rather than waiting the weeks to months it takes for M. tuberculosis to grow on Petri dishes.
But the reality is that, just like those who win grand prizes in experimental science, my greatest achievement isn’t solely mine. I’ve made my career making nasty bacteria glow. When I first started, I was the one taking the genes that fireflies and luminous bacteria use to make light and putting them into bacteria that don’t naturally glow.
But since 2007, I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of teaching and supervising an incredible group of students, technicians and research fellows to do that work in my place.
It’s my job to guide and nurture them, make sure all the necessary permissions are in place, and find the money to pay for the equipment and materials they need.
The person who constructed those bits of DNA is Dr Nuria Andreu, with the help of technician Taryn Fletcher.
While I am now Dr Siouxsie Wiles MNZM, I wouldn’t be without Nuria and Taryn, my collaborator Dr Brian Robertson, and all the other members of my lab past, and present.
I owe them a debt of gratitude.
I’ve made my career making nasty bacteria glow.