Students

Megan Truong

Treating Meningitis, University of Technology Sydney

Imagine your child is healthy one minute and then becomes gravely ill. You hear the doctor say words like ‘rare meningitis’ and ‘Cryptococcus funghi in the brain’ and “I’m sorry, there is nothng we can do”. This happened to over 100,000 mothers and fathers in the past year alone. Microbiologist Megan Truong has discovered a drug that can kill the Cryptococcus funghi in the lab. Inspired by Nobel Prize winner Sir James Black who said: ‘the most fruitful basis for the discovery of a new drug is to start with an old one” Megan is dilligently working towards a greater understanding for the treatment of Cryptococcal Meningitis.