Annette is a mature age PhD student at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, who defected to science after many years as a dispatcher for the ambulance service in Melbourne. She now spends her days investigating strange proteins and mechanisms of cell death, while trying (sometimes in vain) to keep up socially with the significantly younger students in the lab. Annette’s dreams include sampling as many craft beers as she can before her liver gives up, travelling to every continent in the world (two to go!), and completing her PhD before she hits retirement age.