First Person Meet Carolyn Connelly Molecular Laboratory Coordinator

CAROLYN CONNELLY

MOLECULAR LABORATORY COORDINATOR, SCIENCE, EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION

What are your key responsibilities? I manage the plant molecular research laboratory, which is part of the National Herbarium of New South Wales. The role encompasses directing the laboratory operations and training, safety requirements, documentation, equipment servicing and replacement, and organising consumable supplies. I also curate the dried frozen leaf tissue collection used for DNA research. This is an important and growing part of the state-significant collections housed in the Herbarium.

What first got you interested in science and how did it lead to a career? It was a process of osmosis, together with my own curiosity for the natural world. I grew up in the Blue Mountains, surrounded by bushland and with a home garden that included old eucalypt trees. My parents organised fun family bushwalks in the Blue Mountains National Park and the Royal National Park. Two wonderful schoolteachers were further catalysts. My primary school teacher, Jim Low, together with the school students, restored a natural area of bush and a mini wetland in the school grounds. The area was named Kallaroo, which is an Aboriginal word for “path to water”. My high school biology teacher, Estelle Roberts, always asked her students “why?”. I furthered my interest in the natural world by enrolling in science university studies.

Tell us about your career path? My career started at the Gardens. Prior to that I was a student and had assisted with bush regeneration projects in the Blue Mountains. I joined the National Herbarium of NSW at the completion of Honours studies at university. I completed a morphological study of Blandfordia (Christmas Bells) and enjoyed traversing the Blue Mountains looking for the rare Blandfordia cunninghamii and the more abundant Blandfordia grandiflora to study the ecology of the species.

What have been some of the highlights of your work? My first role at the Gardens was describing beautiful Australian waterlilies Nymphaea guided by (the late) Dr Surrey Jacobs. There I forged my skills in plant descriptive work and mastering the technically challenging Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). I then worked on a completely different plant family, Restionaceae, with the then Director of Plant Sciences, Dr Barbara Briggs. The differences in species were often cryptic but significant, and I discovered several new species and one of those, a species of Lepyrodia from Western Australia, was named after me. Around this time, I joined Dr Cathy Offord’s team to assist with studying the Wollemi Pine, focusing on plant propagation and growth. Those were exciting times. Finding my niche in the Molecular Program was due in no small part to Honorary Research Associate Professor John Thomson, who used his knowledge and skills to teach me all things plant DNA related. A recent highlight has been designing the new laboratories at the new National Herbarium at the Australian Botanic Garden.

What is your favourite plant or section in the Gardens? What makes it so special? In the Royal Botanic Garden, a favourite is the sacred lotus, Nelumbo nucifera, that grows in the lower pond. I look forward to the annual display in summer with the bright green leaves making water droplets ball and the flouncy pink flowers that are held aloft. The plants help filter the water flowing in the Gardens’ creek before the water reaches Farm Cove. I once imaged the leaves by SEM for a primary school teaching resource textbook. Plant molecular studies contributed to by three of our staff discovered that the Nelumbonaceae is an ancient family of plants, most closely related to the plant families Proteaceae and Platanaceae.

When you are not working, what do you like to do? Whether I am bushwalking or simply walking for exercise in the Blue Mountains (where I live), the great outdoors is my favourite place to be. Gardening keeps me busy and satisfied with planning plantings, weed control and pruning. I also enjoy visiting historic houses some of which have interesting grounds and wonderful gardens to explore. To remember places visited, I collect photographs in front of national park and botanic garden signs (and often beautiful gates)!

What’s one thing that might surprise people to learn about you? I surprised myself recently when I started thinking about my extended family (blood relatives) and discovered there is a predominance of technically/ methodically minded people. My paternal grandfather was a tailor, and among my immediate family and cousins are accountants, teachers, a dental technician, secretary, dietitian, nurse, upholsterer, quantity surveyor and an electrical engineer. I am clearly related with my technical and methodical organisational skills!