Professor Anderson’s main contribution is to understanding the structure and biology of small disulphide bonded peptides of plants such as proteinase inhibitors, defensins and cyclotides. She discovered that proteinase inhibitors, specific for different insect gut enzymes are produced in the female sexual tissues of plants and act to protect the tissues against insect attack. She discovered that these tissues also express defensins which protect them against fungal infections. She carried these discoveries to a practical outcome. She used the genes encoding these peptides to create transgenic plants and demonstrated their enhanced resistance to insect attack and fungal disease in the field.

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Professor Lithgow has made major contributions to microbial cell biology and genetics. He is one of Australia’s leading yeast geneticists with a strong record of using yeast as a model to understand complex aspects of cell biology. His work on mitochondrial biogenesis and particularly the protein import pathway into mitochondria places him amongst the top molecular microbiologists internationally. His development and use of bioinformatics has enabled the mechanics of protein transport, particularly the “molecular machines” that drive it, to be characterized in bacteria, Giardia, trypanosomes and other microbes. This research has provided a significant understanding of how molecular machines evolved.

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Waterhouse is a world-class scientist with an exceptional international scientific profile. He has made ground-breaking discoveries and insights into the mechanisms, roles and applications of small RNAs in plants. He pioneered the development of DNA delivered RNA interference – a technology revolutionising molecular research in eukaryotes, from plants to mammals. He has made seminal contributions to understanding the molecular biology of plant viruses and his research has delivered both fundamental discoveries and applied outcomes. Recently, he has received prestigious awards including: The CSIRO Chairman’s medal, The Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, The Bulletin’s Smartest Scientist in Australia Award, and an ARC Federation Fellowship.

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Murray Badger is an acknowledged international leader of research into photosynthetic CO2 acquisition and metabolism in aquatic and terrestrial organisms. His distinctive early contributions defined the activation mechanism and conditions for measurement of CO2 fixation and O2 uptake by ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (Rubisco). He is acclaimed for discovery of CO2 concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) in cyanobacteria and algae. These minimize O2 inhibition of CO2 fixation and thereby unmask the co-evolution of Rubisco kinetics and diversity of CCMs, from cyanobacteria to higher plants. His research is typified by integrated, innovative approaches that have greatly facilitated molecular, genomic and functional characterization of systems from the cyanobacterial CCM to rate limitations of photosynthesis in higher plants.

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Professor Dawes has made significant contributions to eukaryotic gene regulation during cell development and responses to the environment. His studies of yeast sporulation provided a detailed understanding of metabolism during meiosis and identified the motif that regulates specific gene expression during meiosis. He was first to show that eukaryotes can mount adaptable responses to oxidative stress and by combining biochemical, genetic and genomic analyses he has made a substantial contribution to elucidating mechanisms whereby cells adapt, maintain resistance, and respond, to oxidants. A significant outcome of this regulation research was identification of a novel system controlling one-carbon metabolism in yeast.

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Dr Smyth is distinguished for his contribution to the molecular genetics of plants. He discovered that some species contain vast numbers of mobile elements within their chromosomes. These elements replicate via an RNA intermediate and were previously known only from animals. Independently he has used the model species Arabidopsis thaliana to discover genes that control the identity of floral organs. Recently he has cloned genes that regulate carpel and ovule development. One of these encodes the founding member of a new family of transcription factors.

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Professor Hynes has made important contributions to eukaryotic gene regulation by studying catabolic pathways in filamentous fungi. Using classical and molecular genetics he was amongst the first to demonstrate multiple regulatory proteins controlling a single structural gene via a complex promoter. This work has also illuminated strategies used to coordinate carbon and nitrogen catabolism. His cloning of the Aspergillus nidulans amdS gene contributed significantly to the development of DNA mediated fungal transformation. His demonstration that this gene could be used to transform other fungal species has resulted in its widespread use in the genetic engineering of economically important fungi.

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Professor Ladiges is distinguished for her studies of systematics, biogeography and ecology of Australian plants. She is best known for her innovative approach to resolving uncertainties about the classification and naming of Australia's most important group of trees, the eucalypts. She was the first to employ modern methods and DNA sequence comparison to establish definitively the relationships of the major groups of eucalypts and establish the basis of a robust classification, important to industry and biodiversity conservation. The methods she has developed for biogeography represent a major theoretical breakthrough, enabling analysis of relationships and evolutionary history of areas of endemism.

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Professor Reeves is internationally renowned for his genetic analysis of enteric bacteria. He determined the genetic basis of the enormous variation in O antigens. There can be more than a I00 forms within a species and little overlap even between related species. This variation is due to reassortment of genes between O antigen genes and other gene clusters, and transfer of gene clusters between species. He showed that the 7th pandemic clone of Vibrio cholerae did not arise directly from the 6th pandemic clone, suggesting-it arose from an environmental strain, with implications for the origins of this major human pathogen.

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Dr Hardham is distinguished for her studies of the cytoskeletal basis of plant morphogenesis and host-pathogen interactions, focusing on properties of cell surface components. She was first to determine the nature of cortical microtubule arrays of plant cells and to quantify their augmentation by interpolation; she also characterised microtubule reassembly and roles in cell-shaping. Her innovative cytological, immunological and molecular researches on the zoosporic agents of infection of the dieback fungus, Phytophthora cinnamomi, have yielded significant new knowledge of infection processes used by this destructive plant pathogen, and of fundamental aspects of cell polarity, cytokinesis, Golgi function, secretion, chemotaxis and phylogeny, as well as practical applications in the form of diagnostic assays.

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