Creative quest for academic satisfaction attracts unique ‘origin of life’ research opportunity

May 14, 2026

This student interview with MSC graduating student, Katja Nell, was conducted on May 12, 2026.

Known in physics classrooms for her infectious laugh and ever-changing electric hair colours, Katja is an eclectic force of nature — equal parts scientist, artist, explorer, and comedian.

We speak over Zoom while she sits comfortably in her studio: a colourful room overflowing with art and messy stacks of books. Katja excitedly walks me through some of her current projects — writing new music, a meticulously designed cross-stitch pattern, a collage wall of photographs. Everything reflects a curious and insatiable mind, and Katja’s academic journey is just that: an homage to the curious, the need for discovery and hands-on experience.

As we begin discussing her path through academia, Katja speaks candidly about the importance of balancing an already remarkable scientific career with creative pursuits that exist purely for joy, and being able to make life decisions without pressure for achievement or productivity.

Katja is a UBC MSc graduate in medical physics and will begin a PhD in Chemistry this summer at the University of Sydney. Understanding how she arrived at this point means tracing a winding path back through a wide spectrum of scientific interests.
Her fascination with science began early. She remembers receiving a chemistry set and a snap-circuit electronics kit as a child — gifts that sparked what she describes as “an itch to understand how things work and how the world ticks.”

“I loved learning in general,” she says. “I always had my nose in a book. At some point, I realized that math and science came more naturally to me than other subjects.”

In 2019, at just 15 years old, Katja became one of the youngest students admitted to the University of British Columbia after skipping multiple grades and entering the Science One program whilst working part-time. The transition was intense. She describes the environment as rigorous and relentlessly fast-paced — “pedal to the metal,” as she puts it.

At the same time, her wide-ranging interests made choosing a single direction difficult. She considered astrophysics, chemical engineering, and even being a cardiothoracic surgeon, inspired by the television drama Grey’s Anatomy. The challenge was not a lack of passion, but rather how to combine her love of chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physics into a single meaningful career.

She initially pursued a Combined Honours degree in Physics and Astronomy before transferring into Biophysics while continuing to take advanced courses in quantum mechanics and biochemistry. She also maintained strong ties to the physics community through summer research with the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE), a proposed large-volume neutrino telescope off the coast of Vancouver Island.

That experience led her toward graduate studies in particle physics under Professor Alison Lister with UBC’s ATLAS group. Yet despite the intrigue of particle physics as presented in textbooks and classes, the reality of particle physics research wasn’t quite the right fit.

“I was always so focused on the bigger picture of research and the underlying theories that I had neglected to fully consider how the day-to-day tasks of various subfields would impact me,” she explains. “I wanted hands-on work in a lab, where I could solve some of life’s puzzles.”

Eventually, she transitioned into medical physics research under Dr. Steven Thomas at the BC Cancer Agency, where she worked with medical linear accelerators — technology used in radiation therapy to deliver high-energy x-rays and electrons that target and destroy cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

It was there that another realization crystallized: chemistry needed to be at the centre of her future work.

“I’ve always loved organic chemistry,” she says enthusiastically. “I love recrystallization, doing distillations, drawing up lab safety sheets, predicting reactions.”

With chemistry now firmly established as a key requirement, Katja began searching for PhD programs that could unite her many interests. She explored opportunities in astrochemistry, biochemistry, and physics before discovering a research project at the University of Sydney that seemed to combine everything she loved: hands-on laboratory work, plasma physics, chemistry, and origin-of-life research.

This fall, she will begin a PhD project titled Lightning and the Chemical Origin of Life under Professor Haihui Joy Jiang in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. Her research will investigate the earliest chemical steps that may have led to life on Earth before the existence of complex organic molecules or biological systems.

In what Prof Jiang calls a “Frankenstein scenario,” Katja will simulate lightning strikes in prebiotic Earth environments to study how plasma discharges may have transformed an inorganic planet and inert atmosphere into the chemical building blocks necessary for life. The work combines chemistry, plasma physics, astrophysics, and biology — a synthesis that feels almost inevitable given her academic trajectory.

Reflecting on her path, Katja seems amused by how naturally her interests have come full circle. What began as parallel fascinations with chemistry and astrophysics has evolved into research that bridges both disciplines. Rather than following a carefully planned career track, she has simply followed her curiosity wherever it led.

That interdisciplinary perspective, she believes, ultimately became one of her greatest strengths. Her broad scientific background — especially her strong foundation in physics — offered a unique viewpoint that resonated with Professor Jiang’s research group.
As she prepares for this next chapter in Australia, Katja remains committed not only to science, but also to maintaining the creative hobbies and personal interests that have always grounded her.

“I’ve gone through some unexpected experiences that forced me to slow down and reminded me of our mortality. We have one life, and it’s precious,” she says. “I’d hate to be cliché, but it’s important to stop and smell the roses.”


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