Wednesday 23 October 2024: 2022 Ramsay Postgraduate Scholar Sophie Cotton is an Australian scientist who is intensely curious about how Western lifestyles have altered our gut microbiome.
She researches how changes to our gut microbiome affect our brains and reproductive systems, and how this in turn affects our susceptibility to endocrine disruptions and neuroinflammatory disorders ranging from childhood autism through to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Her journey to this research focus began during her undergraduate study at Southern Cross University on the Gold Coast, Queensland, where she began collaborating with a microbiome lab at Stanford University in the US and became fascinated with the links between the gut and an increase in neuroinflammatory disorders.
With the support of a Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship, Sophie has just completed a Master of Science in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. Since graduating she has started teaching Microbiology and Immunology at Southern Cross University and plans to pursue a PhD next year.
Reflecting on her period of study in Canada, Sophie says she took full advantage of the beautiful Canadian outdoors; kayaking, paddle-boarding, long-distance cycling, and even learning how to ride an electric unicycle. She also engaged in science and artificial intelligence-related outreach, and fundraising for causes as diverse as women in Iran to Ukrainians affected by the war.
But Sophie says most importantly she had the opportunity to work with world-class professors and publish in her area of research. She says she will be forever grateful that the Ramsay Scholarship support enabled her to completely immerse herself in her study.
In her own words:
The Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship gave me the chance to fully devote myself to something I truly love. I study microbial neuroendocrinology – looking at the ways microbes (in my case bacteria in the gut microbiota) metabolize or create substances in the body that affect our hormones and in turn, the reproductive system and our brain. Specifically I work with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) models to investigate how alterations in the IBD microbiota influence changes in the brain and endocrine system.
This research has significant implications for understanding neuroinflammatory disorders like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and autism, as well as endocrine disruptions such as delayed puberty, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. My goal has been to uncover new insights that could lead to better treatments and interventions for these conditions.
We are at a really critical and exciting time in this field of research and I feel incredibly fortunate to be actively involved at this point in time. The ability to work on research that could lead to advancements in understanding neuroinflammatory disorders and endocrine disruptions has been truly rewarding.
I simply would not have been able to dedicate myself to this research the way I have had it not been for the Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship. I work in a research lab, with live animals, and the hours are often long and demanding. Thanks to my scholarship I have been able to live on campus, an opportunity that is simply out of reach for a lot of people. The support has also given me the time to work on having my research published – here is a paper I published a year into my time at UBC – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37100633/ and another I published just recently – https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.23.595618v1
The Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship also provided me with the life-changing experience of living abroad. I fell in love with Canada – it is such a beautiful country. Being able to go from the lab at 5pm to hiking a mountain at 7pm while the sun was still up was truly spectacular. Every second I wasn’t in the lab I was out exploring the outdoors, whether hiking, paddle boarding or long distance cycling or mountain biking. I joined an ocean cold plunge club that operates all year round, even in Canadian winter temperatures, and during the summer I participated in a kayaking club. In the social space, I hosted a ‘summer nerd’ night group that took place during sunset on the beach. We would get together, choose a random topic, and everyone had 3 minutes to speak to the topic from the perspective of their discipline or expertise.
I also was part of a non-profit called AI & Us – looking at how artificial intelligence can be adopted and incorporated into society in ethical ways. I collaborated with two other members to put on a hackathon at UBC that aimed to develop AI tools for use in emergency crisis response situations. It was really incredible getting to see what some of the students created in just one weekend.
I feel very privileged to continue my journey in research. It’s an incredible privilege to not only remain deeply engaged in the field but also to teach and mentor the next generation of students. Right now, I am teaching Microbiology and Immunology at my undergraduate alma mater – it is my dream job and such a full circle experience for me. Taking what I learned during my master’s and getting to bring it to life for students has been incredibly rewarding.
I’m continuing to stay involved in my area of research – taking what our group learned in mouse models and investigating how that can be incorporated into human studies. My ultimate goal is to be able to make this research useful for informing science policy in a way that affects real lives. I am so grateful for the Ramsay scholarship. Education changes lives. I hope I can take the opportunities the Ramsay scholarship has given me and pass them on to the next generation.”
Interested in a Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship? Our scholarships support outstanding, thoughtful and imaginative young Australian leaders to study at the world’s best overseas universities and are valued at up to AUD$90,000 p.a. For more information go to: https://www.ramsaycentre.org/scholarships-courses/postgraduate-scholarships/
To read more about Sophie Cotton and her cohort of 2022 Ramsay Postgraduate Scholars go to: https://www.ramsaycentre.org/scholarships-courses/postgraduate-scholarships/2022-ramsay-postgraduate-scholars/
Media contact: Sarah Switzer 0407 816 098/ sarah.switzer@ramsaycentre.org for more information on the Centre please visit our website: www.ramsaycentre.org