More than 70 young women from Western Victorian schools attended the Girls in Physics Breakfast where they shared a table with a local woman in the early stages of her career in science or engineering.

During the breakfast they heard from Melbourne University biochemistry and molecular biology laboratory head Dr Elizabeth Hinde who outlined her path in science and her research using fluorescence to observe DNA in a living cell.

Fed Uni’s STEM Outreach Coordinator Stephanie Davison said Dr Hinde’s research showed girls that a path studying one branch of science wouldn’t restrict them to that discipline.

“Her research is multi-disciplinary and draws on a knowledge of physics, biology and chemistry. This is the message we want to get across to the girls … that studies in physics into and beyond VCE can open all sorts of exciting and unexpected doors to fascinating and rewarding careers.”