• Question: what inventions do you make

    Asked by cwawsome to Omur, Maddison, Jimi, Hayley, Chris on 9 Mar 2016. This question was also asked by padsy.
    • Photo: Hayley Moulding

      Hayley Moulding answered on 9 Mar 2016:

      I don’t really have any inventions at the moment. I am hoping one day that I can make a really good plan to help children sleep better! I know it doesn’t sound fancy but it might really help the children and their families!

    • Photo: Omur Tastan

      Omur Tastan answered on 9 Mar 2016:

      I discover what certain genes do during brain development.

      Once I discovered a gene that is required for stem cells to turn into other cell types.
      When I mutated this gene and made mutant flies, they had stem cell tumors because they needed my gene to become other cell types. And, when we added this gene to my flies, they went back to normal 🙂 Yayyy!

    • Photo: Jimi Wills

      Jimi Wills answered on 9 Mar 2016:

      I invent software that helps us make sense of the data from the mass spectrometers. I also develop new ways of doing things in the lab… I invent experiments I suppose.

      My biggest/best innovation was figuring out how to virtually purify chromosomes in the computer based on lots of experimental data. It sounds weird, but it was impossible to purify chromosomes properly to study what proteins are on chromosomes, because chromosomes are really sticky, and proteins that shouldn’t be there stick when you’re purifying the chromosomes.

      So instead, my colleague, Shinya, interfered with the structure of the chromosomes, so we could see how the different proteins reacted… did they fall off the chromosomes or not?

      We did 5 different types of experiments and then I used a thing called machine-learning to look for patterns in the data. It’s like a simple computer brain. I was then able to see which proteins were meant to be on the chromosomes, and which were just stuck there.

      Now we know a lot more about chromosome proteins 🙂

    • Photo: Maddison Coke

      Maddison Coke answered on 9 Mar 2016:

      I invent new ways to probe what electrons are doing at interfaces. This normally takes the form of new designs for pieces that go into a circuit or even just coming up with a new recipe. Each recipe gives a different material- its more like trying to find new ways to use what we have but I like to think of it as inventing.

    • Photo: Chris Conselice

      Chris Conselice answered on 10 Mar 2016:

      I have invented software to measure galaxy shapes which are used to determine how galaxies form and change for 13 billion years. I also invented other software which is used to find the first galaxies and measure the amount of light they have emitted. Many people use these software tools today.

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