Intern sees cancer research from both sides

A young woman with a rare perspective on pediatric cancer is now considering where science can take her after completing a successful internship at Hudson Institute.

Claire Josefsson is in the final year of her Bachelor of Science degree at Monash University, majoring in Biochemistry and Ecology & Conservation Biology, but her interest in cancer research comes from a much more personal place.

When she was just 14 years old Claire was diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a fast-growing form of leukaemia.

As she describes it, the disease consumed all of year-9 and half of year-10, but when she returned to school, it was with a determination to help children undergoing cancer treatment in some way.

She joined the Victorian Paediatric Cancer Consortium’s new patient advocacy committee in 2022, and has continued to work toward better treatments for childhood cancers; That is where she met Dr Claire Sun, Research Group Head of the Computational Therapeutic Discovery Lab at Hudson Institute.

Fast forward to recent months and the two Claires worked together on bioinformatics before a chance to shadow some Research assistants and PhD students as they went about their research, particularly in Dr Catherine Carmichael’s leukaemia lab.

“I was really keen to get some real-life experience and see how a real professional cancer research lab works,” she said.

Whether that translates to a future in research is still undecided, but she is committed to using her experience as a patient to inform any work she does in the cancer space: “I’ve spent a lot of time around doctors, and I always have it in my mind, ‘what does it feel like to be the patient needing this treatment?’”

But that’s all in the future – in the short term there are two big events planned for 2026.

In November Claire hopes to graduate, but her plans for September are even bigger, with a huge party on the cards to celebrate 10 years of being cancer-free.

Wherever her career may take her, the future is looking bright for Claire Josefsson.