Meet the team: Dr Bernadette Drabsch
Introducing Dr Bernadette Drabsch, creative industries supervisor & mentor to the DeNovocastrians iGEM team.
Dr Bernadette Drabsch is a polymath illustrator, working across various areas within Natural history Illustration. When asked what lead her to this career, she said, “I love working at the nexus of science and art.” Her career allows her to work closely with the natural world and the fields that study it, from archaeology to zoology.
Bernadette joined iGEM because of its overall concept of collaboration. She was inspired by the competition’s goals of solving everyday issues through a combination of synthetic biology and team work. Her role in the team is as a co-supervisor of second year student, Dayna Perez, who will be using her visualisation skills to tell the iGEM story. Bernadette has been assisting will all things illustration and visual design, focusing on how to visually present the team’s project.
“People from all different backgrounds, all different disciplines, working together for the greater good, using their creativity to solve some of the world’s most wicked problems. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?” — Dr Bernadette Drabsch
Bernadette lives a very adventurous life. She likes to volunteer as an archaeological illustrator in the field every second year at a site called Pella, in Jordan. She is currently recolouring the hieroglyphs on a 26th dynasty Egyptian sarcophagus — digitally. When asked what about this project attracted her, she said, “I studied Ancient Greek and Latin in my undergrad and I’m fascinated by early forms of visual communication. I am a total science nerd.”
When she is not creating amazing illustrations, Bernadette loves to enjoy the outdoors. She said, “I love mountain biking, kayaking, hiking and basically anything that gives me an excuse to be surrounded by nature.”
