Dr Kirsten Benkendorff, Flinders University, is a marine biologist that is currently investigating Southern Australian marine organisms, in particular a local sea snail that has been identified as a source for a potential new medicine for cancer patients. Her research cultivates production of these snails and tests the effectiveness of the snail extract against particular strains of cancer.

Cancer contributes as one of the biggest mortality rates in the world and not all strains are treatable. The fight against cancer and the effect of chemotherapy on patients, with its nasty side effects, needs to be addressed with the development of new safe and effective medical treatments. Kirsten and her team are working towards this goal.

Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw, University of Adelaide/SARDI, is a conservation ecologist who uses mathematics and biological data to examine and understand the ways in which species respond to changing environments, changes effected from habitat loss, fragmentation, climate change, over-exploitation and invasive species. His research aim is to provide strong scientific basis for justifying conserving biodiversity.

As the human population is nearing 7 billion, and we are consuming approximately 1.3 Earths, his work shows how the loss of life/species leads to reduce human prosperity and well-being and he believes he has a duty to convince people that all is not beyond hope.

Dr Alison Coates, University of South Australia, is a researcher in health and she is particularly interested in the benefits that certain nutrients, such as omega 3 fatty acids found in fish, have on cardiovascular and metabolic function. Her research aim is to provide information to medical professionals about what type of dietary changes are beneficial for optimal health.

Obesity has strong impacts towards cardiovascular disease and poor metabolic function, Alison’s research hopes to assist in finding simple achievable strategies to maintain a healthy lifestyle and limit weight gain, or aid in weight loss to assist with obesity and its side effects.

Dr Catherine Gibson, University of Adelaide, whose research is aimed at identifying possible causes for cerebral palsy, the most common major physical disability in childhood. She is investigating how genetics and the environment may interact during pregnancy to cause cerebral palsy in the hope to understand and to possibly prevent this debilitating disorder, for which there is no cure.

Cerebral Palsy affects about 1 in every 400 children born in Australia, around 600 births per year and the effect on the children and their families are huge. Catherine believes to be given the opportunity to try and prevent this disorder is a wonderful gift, and one she doesn’t take lightly.

Dr Galen Halverson, University of Adelaide, endeavors to reconstruct the history of the Earth’s surface environment as recorded in ancient sedimentary rocks. His research aims to understand how Earth came to be the way it is today and how Earth’s surface behaves and responds to climate change.

Galen is passionate about his work as it offers him the opportunity to be intellectually challenged to answer complex scientific questions, whilst working in exotic corners of the world and applying state-of-the-art analytical techniques.

Dr Mark McDonnell, Institute for Telecommunications Research, University of South Australia, whose research uses mathematics to help understand how neurons in the brain communicate and process information using electrical pulses. He is especially interested in our sense of hearing, how the brain converts sounds into these coded electrical pulses and how the brain is able to accurately interpret sounds from this code. His work is particularly important for improving cochlear implants or “bionic ears.”

Mark enjoys the thrill of discovering something new, or of taking previously unconnected ideas and finding that he can fit them together. However, his main driving motivation is to work on research that may eventually make a difference to people’s health and quality of lives.

Dr Megan Mitchell, University of Adelaide, whose research in reproductive biology looks at how nutrition and the increasing age of first time mothers affects development of the female’s eggs, and embryos. Her aim is to better understand the mechanisms that determine the quality of the egg and embryo, and how this will impact on the developing pregnancy and subsequent health of the baby after it is born.

She hopes that understanding how some of the basic biological processes in the egg and embryo are regulated will ultimately assist couples who want to have a baby.

Dr Tamath Rainsford, University of Adelaide, whose research is about applying mathematics to various real world problems, especially those that are medical or biological in nature. She has demonstrated how combining mathematics with the latest medical tools, can potentially create new medical solutions.

Currently, she is taking inspiration from the way that insects “see” to develop a mathematical model for an artificial seeing system. This model could be implemented in silicon on a vision chip that could be used, for example, in an aircraft without a human pilot (UAV) or even, in a bionic eye.
Tamath fosters a belief that it can be very surprising where a degree in science could take you – all you need is an imagination.

Dr Michael Sorich, University of South Australia, researches the reasons why medicines will work well for some people but not for others and why some individuals suffer significant side effects to some medicines whilst others have little or no side effects. Understanding how different genes and other biological molecules in people affect medicine, assists Michael to help improve decisions involving the selection and dosing of medicines for practitioners, hence ‘personalised medicine’.

Medicines are one of the most common causes of medical problems that are significant enough to require hospital admission. The information Michael could give from his research could contribute to lowering these cases by choosing the correct medicine suited most to the individual’s body make up.

Associate Professor Wei Zhang, Flinders University, leads a research team to develop cheaper and cleaner production processes for supplying biological and nutritional products using cells of bacteria, plants and animals. His research addresses two important challenges our society faces: how to produce cheaper and efficient drugs and nutritional products for improving human health; and how to minimise the impacts of modern biological industry wastes on our environment.