Rate My Professor Lauren Watt

Dr. Lauren Watt serves as a Casual Research Officer and Casual Academic in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, part of the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned her Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences, Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Honours) with a University Medal, and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Newcastle. Her Honours research investigated the role of Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) in mast cells with a focus on asthma. During her PhD, funded by a Cancer Institute NSW Research Scholars Award worth $75,000 from 2007 to 2009, she shifted her focus to breast cancer, developing a 3D cell culture model of human breast ducts to study how PP2A mutations influence cancer characteristics. After completing her PhD under the mentorship of Associate Professor Nikki Verrills, Dr. Watt paused her laboratory work for family reasons. In 2021, she rejoined the Verrills laboratory part-time as a postdoctoral researcher, working remotely on data analysis, literature reviews, administrative tasks, and professional networking while balancing family commitments. Her research specializations include breast cancer, Protein Phosphatase 2A, cancer cell biology, and data analysis.