Melissa Little is internationally recognised for her research on kidney development and her pioneering studies into renal regeneration. Her work, featured on the front covers of Nature and Nature Cell Biology, describing the generation of kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells. This breakthrough opens the door to kidney disease modelling, drug screening and the bioengineering of replacement kidney tissue. Together with a strong track record of commercial translation, Little has been a leader in Australian science policy through her membership of both the Wills and McKeon reviews of Health and Medical Science.

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David Gardner is a world-leading embryologist. His basic animal research laid the foundation for major clinical developments in human IVF. His research has not only significantly improved animal assisted reproduction and breeding programs, but has transformed how human in vitro fertilisation is performed, resulting in significant increases in human pregnancy rates and the birth of millions of children worldwide. His work facilitated the now widely-accepted single embryo transfer and thereby eliminated problems associated with twin/triplet pregnancies. His specialised and improved culture media made it possible to isolate human embryonic stem cells.

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Sarah Robertson is a world-renowned reproductive biologist whose innovative research in reproductive immunology has formed the basis for a new understanding of the origins of health at conception. She has identified specific cytokines and immune cells that regulate embryo implantation and fetal development, and has demonstrated that male seminal fluid acts to induce adaptations in the female immune response that promote receptivity to pregnancy. Her work shows that the immune system channels environmental signals from both female and male parents to contribute to reproductive success and shape offspring phenotype through non-genomic pathways. These discoveries are improving practise in reproductive medicine and providing insight into early life origins of child health.

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Professor Michael Waters is an outstanding Australian scientist with an international reputation in growth hormone action. He was the first to purify and characterise the growth hormone receptor, and, with partners, to clone it. He mapped its tissue distribution, and from that developed new physiologies of growth hormone action, including its role in activating neural stem cells in response to exercise. Michael has elucidated the signals required for key growth hormone actions, and uncovered the molecular basis for receptor activation of its kinase, which has been described as a new paradigm in cytokine receptor signalling.

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Professor Linda Richards is a leading developmental neurobiologist whose discoveries have defined the fundamental mechanisms regulating the wiring of neuronal connections between the hemispheres of the brain. Her discovery that balanced inputs to the two hemispheres are critical for the final stages of brain wiring development advanced understanding of how nerves form circuits. Linda’s research into the way in which animals’ cerebral midlines develop, and the developing human brain, has led to a new understanding of the causes of some of the most common defects in human brain wiring, particularly malformations of the corpus callosum.

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Miners has made seminal contributions to the characterisation of the enzymatic basis of drug metabolism, which underlies the individualisation of drug therapy in humans. His research has interwoven molecular, biochemical and clinical approaches to identify sources of variability in drug metabolism, characterise the substrate and inhibitor selectivities and structure-function relationships of the key drug metabolizing enzymes cytochrome P450 and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, and develop in vitro experimental paradigms that predict drug metabolism parameters in humans. The research has played a pivotal role in establishing drug metabolism as a predictive science that underpins both preclinical drug development and the clinical use of drugs.

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Professor Martinac is one of the leading membrane biophysicist world-wide with an outstanding international and national reputation. He has been internationally known for his pioneering studies of ion channels in microbes, particularly the discovery, cloning and structural and functional characterization of mechanosensitive ion channels in bacteria. His discovery of bacterial mechanosensitive channels and elucidation of the basic physical principles of mechanosensitive channel gating by bilayer deformation forces has made major impact in the fields of mechanosensory transduction and ion channels. His recent work expanded into studies of the role mechanosensitive ion channels may play in neuronal and cardiac diseases.

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Professor Stuart has made seminal contributions to understanding how information is processed by individual nerve cells in the brain. He developed and implemented techniques for making electrical recordings from the fine processes of nerve cells called dendrites. These techniques, which are used throughout the world, led to a series of classic papers describing the initiation and spread of nerve impulses in different nerve cell types. He is a world expert on the physiology of dendrites and co-edited the first book devoted exclusively to this subject. He continues to make outstanding contributions to our understanding of information processing in the brain.

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Professor Carbone has made a number of critical discoveries on the nature of immunity, specifically defining the function and behaviour of key cells involved in the response against infection. He has identified mechanisms by which the immune system identifies pathogens and the means by which effective immunity is generated to control these agents. He has developed a versatile range of biological tools for the study of immune components that have proven indispensable to the field. Overall, he has made significant practical and conceptual contributions to the advancement of our understanding of the immune response in health and disease.

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Charles Mackay’s early work established new paradigms for lymphocyte migration, particularly pathways for the migration of naïve and memory T cells. This work has important implications for understanding immune responses, and the structure and rationalisation of the immune system. Charles Mackay also made important contributions in the fields of chemoattractant receptors. He discovered human eotaxin and CCR3, which facilitate eosinophil migration to tissues. He also characterized the expression, function, and role in HIV entry of several chemokine receptors, including CCR5, CXCR4 and CC3. He is an internationally recognised authority on chemoattractant receptors, and their use as targets for anti-inflammatory therapy.

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