 The research that I do here at Griffith University really focuses on the biophysical and biochemical properties of blood cells and we're really interested in how particularly the artificial environment within medical devices, things like ventricular assist devices or artificial hearts, change the properties of blood and ultimately disrupt blood flow in the body. Receiving a Young Tour Poppy Award is really humbling as a scientist. It's definitely not the reason we get into science in the first place. It's extremely invigorating with respect to the work that our team is doing. It's really valuable for the young scientists coming through our team to see that the work that they're doing is making a difference and it's being recognized. We hope to create new generations of medical devices that are basically more friendly to blood. On top of that we hope that the 1 million people that receive cardiovascular interventions around the world that require artificial organs will basically benefit from not having their blood being damaged and thus there should be both health and economic benefits from our work. Receiving the award really does strengthen our resolve to keep tapping away the problem we're addressing. I really hope that we can use this as a platform to engage community both for scientific understanding but also to try and invigorate people to consider careers in science.