Emily Pui-Yee Seto, MSc Clinical Microbiology
Emily Pui-Yee Seto received her MSc Clinical Microbiology at the University of Nottingham in 2016 and went on to receive her biomedical science license at the State of California Department of Public Health. With her newly defined set of work skills, she is now working as a Planetary Protection Engineer with NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
It has always been a dream of mine to study abroad at a prestigious university that allows exploration of the field of microbiology. The highlight of the course was having a suite of research projects to choose from while given the opportunity to learn and work with leading experts in the field. Also, having supportive colleagues concatenated with a positive environment definitely made my journey much more valuable!
At NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I am working to prevent forward and backward contamination of spacecraft that are being launched for different missions. Currently, I am on a team working to launch a spacecraft to Europa (Jupiter’s moon) to investigate whether the icy moon could harbour conditions suitable for life. Most of my work is comprised of researching/characterising hardy organisms from clean rooms, calculating bioburden, and making sure that sterilisation techniques meet the NASA standard requirements. From my journey, I hope that I can inspire scientists to push forward innovative ideas and work towards new discoveries. Two thumbs up for microbiologists in space!
