My name is David James and I love science. To make a difference is all that matters and research provides that opportunity. The possibilities are boundless. Technology and science has moved at a pace never seen before and we can begin to envisage that what we have done and will do, will transform the future medical care system throughout the world. Individuals will one day enjoy detailed insights about their future health risks very early in life and most importantly what they can do to extend their own healthy life.
There is almost nothing that I can think of that could surpass this kind of future. This is my dream! To get there I run a lab of around 20 people at Sydney University. They can within reason work on whatever they like provided that it contributes to our big picture goal in some way. We work on cells from all kinds of animals, mice of all sorts of colours and humans. We are desperately trying to learn how to integrate with other foreign tribes such as mathematicians and engineers but we must first learn their language and their cultures and try to respect them as equals. I feel like I am setting off to climb Mount Everest and I am quietly confident we will reach the summit. But this will require a team effort and everyone will play a role. We have trained so many young people who have gone on to climb their own mountains and conquer their own personal battles. Some say times are tough now with funding getting down to the bare bones. But we have to be like Galileo and Newton and try to see what is on the other side of the moon and ask questions that others are afraid to ask.

I would like to welcome young students and postdocs to join us on this journey so that we might see beyond the beam of white light and seek its individual components in an effort to understand how complex systems really work so that we can in turn learn how to intervene in productive ways for the future.

Contact: david.james(at)sydney.edu.au