THE GENE HUNTER
Seán Duke talked to Aoife McLysaght about sharing her passion for science .
World War II a statistician called
IN Abraham Wald was employed to analyse US planes returning from air combat . Metal was scarce , and the idea was to only reinforce the most vulnerable parts of the planes . The parts of returning aircraft that made it home full of bullets must be the toughest parts , Wald reasoned , and so a decision was made not to reinforce these areas , but to use the scarce metal to strenghten the other parts of the aircraft .
Dr Aoife McLysaght , geneticist at TCD , understands Walsh ’ s logic and applies it to her own gene hunting efforts . Dr McLysaght is identifying genes that are most sensitive to being hit with ‘ bullets ’ - which in genetic terms means being hit with random gene mutations . This is important because it is known that
SCIENCE SPIN Issue 58 Page 16 in certain sensitive genes – right across all living species – having too many copies of a particular gene , or too few , can result in a disease .
School
Dubliner Aoife attended her local national school before attending St Andrew ’ s College , on Booterstown Avenue . She recalled that although there wasn ’ t too much science taught in primary school , she was very interested and engaged by such science as was on offer . In particular , Aoife remembers presenting a science project with her best friend in sixth class , which involved explaining aspects of the weather to other pupils and teachers .
“ I had fun little demonstrations , to do with the power of wind and air ,” Aoife recalled . “ We had a plastic bag with a book on top of it . We got the opening of the bag and blew into it and showed that it would lift the book . We also had a glass milk bottle , with a balloon on top that was not inflated . We placed the bottle into a jug of really hot water , and the air would expand and inflate the balloon . I remember having loads of fun doing that ,” she said .
Her interest in science was strongly established by the time she attended St Andrew ‘ s . She remembers that she was always engaged with science , and actively listened to the teachers , so that information went in , making life much easier when it came to passing the exams . When the Leaving Certificate rolled around Aoife chose to do Biology and Chemistry , but not Physics . She believes that was a mistake in hindsight as she always enjoyed physics .
Instead she chose to study geography , because it was regarded as a science subject by the universities . This was a mistake , she says now , because while she enjoyed physical geography - such as explanations of why earthquakes occur — she did not at all like social geography , which for her involved too much memorising of lots of very dull information . Her experience has told her in the years since that people will succeed at what they enjoy . That was proven when her geography result proved her worst Leaving Certificate result .
At St . Andrew ’ s , she was inspired by the efforts of a great teacher , Dr Nick Frewin , a PhD holder , who taught her science and biology . “ He was just really good ,” recalled Aoife . “ He spent a lot of time clearly explaining things , had well planned lessons , and there was a lot in it beyond the course . He was well liked enough for people to write him