The human body is intricate, fascinating, beautiful - we don't understand the half of how it works, but the more I learn the more I am amazed at how much is involved in keeping us breathing, standing, thinking, being. A myriad of specialist cells are born, live, die and talk to each other and the world around them to keep it all happening. Their interactions are mind-boggling and as a research scientist at Westmead Millennium Institute, I never take lightly how fortunate I am to spend my time discovering more about how it all works.

I'm a Dapto girl of working-class parents who worked hard to provide opportunities for us, valued but never pressured us about education, and supported us in following what we loved. I was born in Kogarah in 1974 and we migrated south when I was in sixth class. I'm a research scientist and my sister is a Wollongong hairdresser and businesswoman and one of the smartest and most creative people I know. We went to Dapto High School, where some really committed and inspiring teachers put their hearts and souls into educating a melting pot of hormonal teenagers, including some from really disadvantaged backgrounds. At the end of school I won a $500 scholarship from Rosie's Takeaway in Dapto, "The best burger joint in town", my first funds towards a tertiary education.

Life at the University of Wollongong was formative in every way! I did a BSc in biological sciences and a PhD in microbiology. Great teachers and mentors, an internationally competitive research environment, and lifelong friendships forged in the crucible of a PhD, with golden humans who saw me at my best and my worst, and loved me anyway. There were some fairly creative cocktails made in $20 student blenders thrown into the mix. Did I mention all this was five minutes from some of the most beautiful coastline in the world? Oh, how I miss Wollongong! My family still live there so I'm down a bit. I live in Sydney but fantasise constantly about the affordable real estate, physical beauty and slower pace of Wollongong. At UOW, I learnt how the immune system in multiple sclerosis (MS) attacks the conductive sheath surrounding the nerves of the brain and spinal cord, but no one really knew why. I thought it was a fascinating and much-needed research area, but the opportunity to work on MS didn't come until my first post-doctoral position about 10 years later, working on how genes predispose a person to MS, to help piece together the puzzle of what causes the disease.

I work with a bunch of really talented and committed people at the Westmead Millennium Institute and Westmead Hospital. The leaders of the Westmead team were key players in an international MS genetics study, comparing more than 10,000 people with MS with 20,000 healthy people. It's such a rich source of information, and we've only just touched the surface of what it can tell us about MS. The next step is to find how these genes predispose to MS. I've just been awarded a grant from the Trish MS Research Foundation to work on how these genes might interact with the Epstein Barr virus, to help us uncover the cause of MS.

These days I'm a part-time scientist and mum of two very boisterous and delightful little boys, aged 2 and 5. They keep my world entirely chaotic, sleep-deprived, and more rich than I could ever have imagined. I'm grateful for a creative job that gives my brain the luxury of the occasional consecutive thought, and have so much admiration for full-time at-home mums who do the chaos 24-7! Perhaps the biggest surprise of parenting for me has been the way it leaves you so vulnerable. The love is so intense - you agonise over their everyday anxieties and your heart takes flight with every little screech of delight or "I love you". The Trish Foundation that funds my research was established by Roy and Carol Langsford, who watched their daughter Trish struck down in the prime of her life, and ultimately lose her battle with MS in 2002 at the age of 30. I can't quite imagine how one survives the loss of a child. Yet Roy and Carol have turned this horrible personal tragedy into hope for other people with MS. They and their team of volunteers formed the Trish Multiple Sclerosis Research Foundation with a simple and specific goal - to find a cure for MS. I'm passionate about MS research because it changes lives. In the last 10 years, the treatment options have trebled in Australia as a direct result of medical research. The speed of progress gives me hope that we're getting closer to a cure.