How often is one bitten by a mosquito? Every May, I am reminded of the insect’s
existence. The high-pitched buzzing beside my ears as I try to fall asleep. Often causing me to lie
in bed staring at the darkened ceiling above, hoping against all odds that my cat will find it.
Fortunately, I am not one to have a large reaction to mosquito bites, unlike other members of my
family. My oldest brother, Hunter, would often tell me every summer that they should just kill all
the mosquitoes. He may be slightly biased, as he develops large and painful bite marks, and he
lacks the self-control to stop himself from itching. His symptoms were usually alleviated with
the application of my grandfather’s Bug Bite gel, which he had developed while
working as a compounding pharmacist. As a result, he never suffered all summer long. I used to
think the same way as Hunter, as I would listen to this rant more than once every single year, and
my older – and wiser – brother could never be wrong.
As I have grown up and my love for living things has blossomed, I have come to the
realisation that everything has its own role. Just as a single cell is comprised of different types of
enzymes, RNA, and receptors, so too is the body of a multicellular life form made up of smaller
components like organs, structural tissues, and immune systems that serve the overall survival of
the organism. Each native stream, plant, fungi, and animal, unknowingly or not, aids in keeping
the ecosystem balanced and healthy.
Though something may appear to serve no function to the untrained eye, in practice, most
things maintain an important role in the system that they are a part of. Sometimes these larger
systems are thrown off balance, and this could be due to a multitude of reasons, such as the mass death
of a component, seen in the culling of the Wolves in Yellowstone National Park, which led to an
overabundance of coyotes and the subsequent decline in smaller fauna. Infection of an organism
through viral or bacterial means can, as I will personally attest, significantly impact the ability of that organism to function properly. There is another way that a system’s balance can be
disrupted, and most people are aware of its outcome. It is an unwanted, overall change in
function that is sometimes seen in cells. This change causes the cell of a multicellular lifeform to
essentially revert to a unicellular programming, prioritising the survival and reproduction of the
cell over the survival of the organism. This is cancer.
4 years ago, I was reminded how devastating cancer truly is. A close family friend was
diagnosed with a form of pancreatic cancer that was determined to be terminal after over a year
of extensive treatment. In 2023, he unfortunately passed away, leaving those of us around him
heartbroken, and me thinking. This tragedy was not, and is not, exclusive to Bill. Millions of
people of every age all around the world develop cancer, and many of those individuals pass
away from it. How many lives have been lost due to a simple mutation in the programming of a
cell? And how close to a cure is the scientific community today? After several more years of
higher-level chemistry and biology courses and a Medicinal Chemistry course that solely focused
on drug delivery and design, I have come to the realisation that I can be a part of the community
that is striving to find and implement successful treatments for all kinds of ailments that impact
people and animals, including cancer.
This desire of mine to be a part of something that helps people and animals led me to
work at Northmount Pharmacy and Compounding Lab. Originally, I began work in the
dispensary, interacting directly with patients, which has given me much insight into the struggles
that patients go through. Now, I work in the pharmacy’s compounding lab, reformulating
pharmaceuticals and making patient-specific dosed medications, including antibiotics,
mouthwashes for cancer patients, and even chemotherapy for animals. What I have learned about
myself through both university and work is that I want to help those who need it, even if they cannot ask for it themselves. I want the career I choose - whether that be in research and
development or pharmacy - to be able to give patients a light, even in the darkest moments of
life.
To appease my passion for nature, I occasionally volunteer for Artists for Conservation.
With AI data centres guzzling more water by the day, as deforestation takes place to make room
for production, and with the coral reefs dying due to pollution and overfishing, it is vital that we
come together to protect and restore that which we as a species are actively destroying. I seem to
hear about another depressing statistic every day related to the destruction of the planet to drive
corporate greed, and it makes me want to do something about it. Artists for Conservation has
allowed me to help in whatever time I have available. They have shown me that there are
amazing people who are willing to create an entire community where people can join and raise
money for conservation projects around the globe by selling their art. They are one of the lights
in my darkness.
Now, one may think that conservation would not have any impact on the medical field, to
which I strongly disagree. I like to think about all the medical innovations that have been
inspired by the natural world, such as aspirin being derived from a compound found in a type of
willow bark. Recently, there was a study by Puma et al that managed to repurpose the proboscis
of a female mosquito as a 3D printer nozzle. The team endearingly termed this “3D
necroprinting”, and it allowed them to print much smaller designs than were previously possible
(2025). This type of microtechnology could potentially have a large impact on the versatility and
use of bioscaffolds in the medical field, which are used in tissue repair and wound healing,
allowing for less invasive procedures.
Though I often still find mosquitoes annoying, I have come to appreciate that they also
play an important part in human ingenuity and the environmental balance. My absolute favourite
thing about mosquitoes, however, is the fact that every summer I get to sit there and watch my
1.95 m, 30-year-old brother scream and run around while flapping his arms as he is pursued by
an insect no bigger than my pinky nail.
