2010 Annual Report - Institute for Molecular Bioscience - University ...

imb annual report 2010
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IMB FELLOWSHIP FOR PLANT
BIOLOGIST
Research into using plant seeds to
produce otherwise costly drugs has
snagged Dr Joshua Mylne the inaugural
IMB Fellowship, the Professor John S.
Mattick Fellowship.
The IMB Fellows program was
established by the Institute in 2010 and
aims to provide support for outstanding
senior postdoctoral scientists to
transition to independent researchers.
The fellowship was named after
Professor John Mattick, co-founder and
inaugural Director of the IMB.
Dr Mylne will use the $90,000 fellowship
to help support his research into the way
sunflower seeds manufacture proteins,
a process he believes could be modified
to produce protein drugs.
Professor John Mattick presents Dr Joshua Mylne with his John S. Mattick Fellowship
certificate.
awards
WORLD’S LARGEST SCIENTIFIC
SOCIETY AWARDS IMB
RESEARCHER
An IMB researcher developing a drug
for pain from cone snail venom has
been awarded a prestigious prize from
the world’s largest scientific society.
Professor David Craik won the Ralph F.
Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry
from the American Chemical Society.
Peptides are small proteins that play
a number of important roles in the
body. Professor Craik was recognised
for his work with circular peptides,
known as cyclotides. He described the
first cyclotide and has been a major
contributor to the field ever since.
One of his most significant achievements
is the engineering of a new circular
peptide to treat pain. Normal peptides
can relieve pain but are unstable, while
the circular version created by Professor
Craik has proven effective at treating
pain in early trials.
FIVE IMB GRADUATES’ THESES IN
TOP TEN PERCENT
Five IMB students made the Dean’s
Awards List for Outstanding Research
Higher Degree Theses: Dr Ming
Chang (Sweet group), Dr Conan Wang
(Craik group), Dr Markus Muttenthaler
(Alewood group), Dr Ryan Taft and Dr
Tim Mercer (Mattick group).
IMB RESEARCHER ONE OF
HIGHEST-RANKED IN NATION
Professor Rob Parton was recognised
as being one of the best and brightest
in the country at the NHMRC awards,
held in March. Professor Parton received
the Achievement Award for having the
Highest-Ranked Project Grant.
These grants are awarded by the council
to fund specific projects, and each
application is individually ranked. Out of
the 683 grants awarded across Australia
in 2009, Professor Parton’s application
was ranked the highest.
His project will investigate ways of treating
prostate cancer through suppressing the
secretion of a protein called caveolin. This
protein is normally embedded in the cell
surface but in aggressive forms of prostate
cancer it is secreted from cancerous cells
and promotes the progression of the
disease.
IMB RESEARCHERS TOP STATE
WITH PAIN AND IMMUNE
RESEARCH
IMB researchers took out half of the
awards on offer at the 2010 Queensland
Health and Medical Research Awards.
Dr Richard Clark won Senior Researcher
of the Year for his work on developing a
medication for chronic pain using cone
snail venom, while Dr Kate Schroder won
Postdoctoral Researcher of the Year for
completing the first comparison of mice
and human innate immune systems.
TOP HONOURS STUDENTS
AWARDED
The best IMB honours students of the
past two years were recognised with an
awards presentation in late March. The
Amgen Award is given to the overall best
IMB honours student in a particular year,
with the winner being decided based on
grades for the honours thesis and the
overall honours mark.
The 2008 winner was Elanor Wainwright,
who completed her thesis in the
Koopman/Wilhelm laboratories. Ms
Wainwright’s project explored the role
of Mir-202, a type of RNA, in gonad
development.
Sheila Barbero and Anne Sawyer shared
the award in 2009. Ms Barbero, from
the Fairlie group, studied a type of
enzyme that has potential therapeutic
benefits if used after a stroke. Ms
Sawyer investigated the purification
and characterisation of a protein
from a species of green algae, which
the Hankamer group are genetically
modifying to produce commercial
quantities of hydrogen and other
biofuels. All three women have gone on
to PhD study within the IMB.
STUDENT PRIZES
For a detailed list of other student prizes
in 2010, please turn to page 69.