Funding boost provides TB scientist with vital equipment
27 September, 2018 
A young Centenary scientist looking into new ways to treat the world’s deadliest infectious disease, tuberculosis, has used a $10,000 funding award to invest in a critical piece of equipment.
Dr Elinor Hortle was among three Centenary scientists to take home top prizes at the 2018 Sydney LHD Innovation and Research Awards in June.
Dr Hortle won the Annual Health Research Infrastructure Award, which provides a high-achieving early-career scientist with funding to purchase, maintain or hire equipment associated with a basic science research project.
As part of the Immune-Vascular Interactions Laboratory, Dr Hortle has used the funding to purchase a micro-injector; a machine which is able to inject very small amounts of substance (about 2nl, or 0.000002 ml per injection).
Dr Hortle says the micro-injector is critical to her research.
“My research relies almost entirely on genetically modified fish – so that’s fish either expressing fluorescent proteins in particular cell types, or fish that have had genes that we’re interested in turned off.
“To make these genetically-modified fish, we have to inject DNA or RNA into the single-cell stage of the embryo. A single cell is very tiny, hence the need for a micro-injector.”
Brand new microinjector installed and ready to go! Seems my near future will involve a lot of transgenesis.
Thanks again @SydneyResearch and @SydneyLHD for awarding us the funds. pic.twitter.com/FHC8AA195D
— Dr Elinor Hortle 🐟🐀🔬🧫 (@ElinorHortle) September 25, 2018
