Beating imposter syndrome led me to a medical discovery | Emma Paterson | TEDxKings Park Youth

Quick Overview

Emma Paterson, a PhD physics student from Curtin University, describes how her curiosity led her to develop a novel method using twisted light to selectively interact with and separate chiral molecules, potentially revolutionizing pharmaceutical drug discovery by making it faster, cheaper, and less wasteful, especially when compared to traditional methods like HPLC.

Key Points: Paterson's research involves using twisted light to interact with and separate chiral molecules, which are mirror-image molecules like left and right hands. The discovery has the potential to revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry by enabling faster, cheaper drug development with fewer side effects. Traditional methods like High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) are slow, inefficient, and time-consuming for separating chiral molecules. The speaker, a PhD physics student, experienced self-doubt (imposter syndrome) common among women in male-dominated STEM fields. The discovery of interacting with molecules using twisted light was a breakthrough that separates left-handed from right-handed molecular images. Paterson is working to turn this research into a startup within the next 10 years to bring the technology to market. She encourages the audience to embrace their curiosity, ask questions, and push boundaries, regardless of potential judgment or self-doubt.

Context: Emma Paterson, a PhD physics student at the University of Western Australia, shares her journey motivated by curiosity and a passion for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Her research focuses on fundamental physics, specifically exploring how light that has been twisted can interact with molecules. This work addresses a major challenge in the pharmaceutical industry: the difficulty and inefficiency of separating chiral molecules (molecules that are mirror images of each other, like a left and right hand), which often leads to one version being therapeutic and the other toxic, exemplified by the tragedy of Thalidomide.