Vale Dr Nick Wong
March 1, 2023
Farewell Nick. A scientist who passed away early February. A bioinformatician. But not only a bioinformatician. Everyone who knew (or just knew of) Nick realised this: It was Nick’s regular sign off on social media posts. And fair enough too: he enjoyed wet lab work as well, regularly making his own sequencing libraries, the results of which he’d later be analysing. His wet lab skills also carried through to his barista training when making coffee. He was always looking to improve science methods and equipment and he impressed one company CEO sufficiently to say that Nick was welcome to try and test his ideas on the instrument Nick’s current employ had bought and the CEO would cover the warranty that Nick was intent on breaking ! (The CEO also later asked me if I thought Nick might be interested in joining the company).
There can be a divide between academia and industry at times – but not for Nick. He moved effortlessly between them and not just once, one of his recent messages after joining CSL was that ‘he was on his 2nd lap’. And no doubt he carried on doing what he was very good at – connecting people and bringing them together into a team. Looking for those on the outside and bringing them into the fold.
He was happy to contribute an opinion on most things – messages over a day could range from touchdown PCR and its origins – to tips for macaroni cheese. You might not necessarily agree with the opinions (I mean, really – Kraft cheese in the macaroni?) but Nick was never going to hold back – with either some pithy words, a meme . . or usually both. His interests were wide and varied and such he engaged with many on social media. The outpouring of love, shock and sadness at Nick’s passing would have humbled him and left him speechless – but probably not without a meme or two. Our thoughts are with his wife Pam (whose macarons we miss here at dnature) and his family here in NZ. Many are struggling at the news of his passing – is it because we won’t get his pithy replies, messages or questions? Or is it because we feel we couldn’t support Nick in the same way he supported so many? You’re missed Nick.
#notonlyabioinformatician
