Young Tall Poppy Science Award winners - Victoria 2007

Dr Ben Croker, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, examines how immune cells communicate using hormone-like molecules called cytokines. The binding of a cytokine to a target cell activates or turns on the cell, directing the cell to divide, die, move or mature to become a cell that can destroy invading microorganisms.

His future research will be aimed at identifying human populations at risk and also to identify similar genes that stabilize the host during infection.

Associate Professor David Dunstan, International Diabetes Institute, is a leading researcher on the role of physical activity in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes. His research program into the effects of strength training in the management of type 2 diabetes was key to the recent revision of the American Diabetes Association's (2006) exercise guidelines for people with type 2 diabetes.

Dr Kim Halpin, CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL),works in a team, contributing to Australia's emergency animal disease preparedness through a number of collaborative projects which aim to manage and control major transboundary animal diseases and emerging zoonoses. Zoonotic diseases are those which can pass from animals to people.

A particular focus of Kim's work is highly pathogenic avian influenza, and
much more recently, equine influenza. She coordinates and manages the molecular diagnostic test validation studies and the genetic analysis of the avian influenza isolates submitted to AAHL from within Australia and overseas.

Dr Benjamin Kile, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, focusses his research on genes that control blood cell production and function. Benjamin is interested in how stem cells generate the various specialised blood cell types, and in particular the steps required to produce platelets, the body's essential blood clotting cells.

Ben was the recipient of a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship from the Australian Research Council in 2005 and has also received Early Career Awards from the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis and the Australian Research Council.

Dr Julie McMullen, Baker Heart Research Institute, researches cardiac hypertrophy (heart growth) and failure, specifically focusing on molecular mechanisms responsible for the induction of physiological "good" and pathological "bad" heart growth.

Julie's research has demonstrated that genes up-regulated in response to exercise can be targeted and used to improve heart function and lifespan in mouse models of heart failure. This research has the potential to lead to new and improved therapeutics for patients with heart failure.

Dr Sarah Meachem, Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research,specialises in the field of reproduction. Sarah is looking at the hormonal factors that determine sperm production. Immature sperm cells are enveloped in a larger cell, called the Sertoli cell, which nurtures their development. Proper communication between Sertoli and sperm cells is critical in allowing their normal development. Sarah is looking at the communication bridges between them in the healthy and diseased testis.

In a related project Sarah is endeavouring to discover the best way to inhibit
sperm production as a method of male contraception.

Dr Paul Stoddart, leads the Applied Optics Group in the Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy at Swinburne University of Technology. He works on a variety of problems from building devices just a few hundred atoms across, to measuring invisible structures. He has developed novel chemical sensors for continuous glucose monitoring and the detection of contaminants in water and a method for growing carbon nanotubes on the tip of an optical fibre.

His developments will enable devices to work faster and smarter in the future.

Dr Stephen Turner, University of Melbourne, researches is how our immune systems control viral infections. This control of virus infections is mediated by a subset of immune cells called "killer T cells". Stephen's research examines how only those killer T cells are selected from the diverse pool of cells. Furthermore, Stephen's research examines how killer T cells acquire different functions enabling them to control virus infection, including their ability to become long-term memory cells.

Implications of Stephen's research include helping improve current vaccine strategies, or developing new vaccine or immunotherapy strategies

Dr Leslie Yeo, Monash University, whose research is aimed at elucidating the physicochemical hydrodynamics associated with electrically and acoustically driven microfluidic transport. These fundamental studies are applied to discover novel ways for actuating and manipulating fluids and particles in micro/nano-scale devices for applications such as drug delivery,drug screening, point-of-care medical diagnostics, biosensor technology, robotic surgery and other applications.

Associate Professor Murat Yücel, University of Melbourne is the Head of the Impulsive-Compulsive Behaviour Group at Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre and the Research Leader of Neuroimaging, Orygen Youth Health Research Centre.

The ability to exercise voluntary control over one’s own thoughts, feelings, and actions is an essential component of daily life. The importance of self-regulation becomes especially clear when considering some potential consequences of not exercising enough of it. Repeated failures of self-regulation or an inability to resist a thought, temptation or impulse can lead to “compulsive” and “impulsive” behaviours that relate to a host of personal and social problems (e.g., excessive eating and internet usage, pathological gambling, substance abuse etc). Such Impulsive and Compulsive behaviours are extremely common in the general population and can be viewed as existing on a continuum ranging from mild, harmless thoughts and behaviours to severely debilitating symptoms and disorders.

Using the latest brain imaging, as well as cognitive and affective neuroscience techniques, we are investigating how brain networks mature through the life-span and how disruptions to them can lead to the maladaptive impulsive and compulsive behaviours often observed in neuropsychiatric, addictive personality and developmental disorders.