Stepping into Aesop’s freshly minted lab in Melbourne’s Collingwood is akin to a Willy Wonka wonderland. But instead of chocolates concocted by a mad connoisseur, it’s all lotions and potions using the latest science techniques. Beakers filled with brightly handled spatulas and silver stirrers sit benchside alongside thermometers, electric scales and brown bottles with differing levels of elixirs. Several young women wearing white lab coats huddle in a corner, while another stares down at her would-be gel moisturiser as an expensive-looking mixer whirls to life. “I’m cooling it down,” she says seriously. “It’s still too warm.”
Don’t let the child’s play of this scene fool you. These young scientists are among the best pharmaceutical graduates in the country and
