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SFU science graduate a rising TV star
By Stuart Colcleugh
Jennifer Gardy |
Jennifer Gardy, the wicked-smart microbiologist on CBC TV’s hip new weekly science show, Project X, graduated from SFU in 2006 with a PhD in molecular biology and biochemistry and a Governor General’s Gold Medal as the university’s top doctoral student.
These days, when she’s not floating in zero-gravity, trapping alligators or racing against champion sprinters for Project X, Gardy is a postdoctoral fellow in bioinformatics/microbiology at UBC, where she explores the immune system using computer models.
Project X aims to explore the frontlines of science in an entertaining but intellectually challenging manner as Gardy and her three science-sleuthing co-stars travel the world to explore one theme from different angles in each half-hour episode.
The diminutive PhD graduate in molecular biology and biochemistry is attractive, charming, a great communicator and, above all, intelligent — she’s one of two SFU graduate students to win a Governor General’s gold medal for her superb academic performance.
Currently a post-doctoral fellow at UBC, Gardy is on track to becoming a professor since, she acknowledges, her dream of becoming a TV science host might not be terribly realistic.
Her PhD research focused on using computer science techniques to predict where in a bacterial cell a protein might be located — information that is critical to developing new drugs and vaccines.
As a postdoctoral fellow, Gardy is continuing to examine therapeutic strategies, this time by understanding the human innate immune system — the body’s first line of defence against pathogens like viruses, bacteria and fungi.
Gardy has dreamed of becoming a TV science host at least since her days as a grad student with SFU microbiologist Fiona Brinkman. “It’s nice to see how Jenn is starting to realize her dream,” says Brinkman.
“Fiona really encouraged me,” says Gardy. “She introduced me to (SFU biology professor) Mark Winston, who’s like SFU’s science communication guru. And that kick-started so many things including my writing career for SFU News.”
Gardy was a regular freelance contributor to the university’s newspaper for two years, writing on everything from biochemistry to bear-sightings on campus.
SFU News co-editor Diane Luckow says, “she was a very good reporter from the start.”
Project X premiered in February and runs for eight episodes this season. Gardy says the program’s audience share has been growing rapidly and she has high hopes that it will be picked up for a second season.
Meanwhile, balancing her academic and media careers can be a juggling act, she says. “But I do bioinformatics-based research, which I can do anywhere as long as I have a computer and an Internet connection.”
For Gardy, who values creativity and communication, the field of bioinformatics is very rewarding. “It’s a big field and very interdisciplinary,” she says.
“It rewards people who can think about problems in new ways and who can appreciate what other fields of research can bring to the problem.”
Project X airs on Thursday nights on CBC at 7:30 p.m.
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