Australind Senior High School students inspired after visit from Nobel Prize winning scientist Barry Marshall

An award-winning Australian scientist has inspired Australind students to follow in his footsteps after sharing his story and conducting hands-on experiments with them. Nobel Prize Laureate and renowned physician Professor Barry Marshall visited Australind Senior High School, along with eight University of Western Australia interns, as part of the Barry Marshall MicroBlitz Internship program. During the experiments, students were given instructions by interns and offered a behind-the-scenes look at how bacterial infections are diagnosed in a pathology laboratory. They were also taught how to plate up bacteria, use a micropipette — a device used for liquid transfer — and identify resistant bacteria. Professor Marshall said as the WA Ambassador for Life Sciences, he regularly took part in lectures and outreach programs and enjoyed promoting science. “I’ve been doing it now for 15 years since I won the Nobel Prize,” he said. Professor Marshall said he was unsure as to what he wanted to do in high school and it was a speech from a doctor during a careers night that turned him on to medicine. “Those kids that I saw 15 years ago, they’re all working now — maybe they’re teachers, maybe they’re professors, doctors, scientists, geologists, who knows?” he said. “And maybe they got into that profession just because I gave them an interesting talk.” ASHS teacher Brett Gaskell said everyone was excited to hear the lecture and they jumped at the opportunity to have a Nobel Prize winner visit. Professor Marshall was awarded a Nobel Prize along with pathologist Robin Warren in 2005 for their discovery of the bacterium helicobacter pylori, which they uncovered as the cause of stomach ulcers and diseases.