Gaia De Angelis donated blood following an earthquake in central Italy that killed nearly 300 people and injured hundreds more. In doing so, Gaia was not only responding to an urgent need, she was also finding a focus for her future career in chemistry.
“I'm very interested in artificial blood. Researchers are working on it right now, but they haven't found a substitute that is capable of replacing all the functions of blood yet.
"After the earthquake in Italy, I realised I was very interested in this topic and knew I wanted to get into this type of work. But it's also something that would potentially help other people, so for me it's a win-win situation.”