Winning research: Since the introduction of the vaccines that Ian Frazer's team created, 80 per cent of teenage girls in Australia have been protected against human papilloma virus (HPV) which can cause cervical cancer.
SYDNEY: A Brisbane scientist responsible for the development of cervical cancer vaccines has taken out Australia's top award at last night's 2008 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science.
The awards were handed out at a black tie ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra. The annual event recognizes the achievements of Australian scientists and science teachers.
Remarkable success rate
The $300,000 Prime Minister's Prize was awarded to Ian Frazer, an immunologist from Diamantina Institute for Cancer Immunology & Metabolic Medicine at The University of Queensland whose cervical cancer vaccines – Gardasil and Cervarix – went on the market in 2006.
Since their introduction, 80 per cent of teenage girls in Australia have been vaccinated against human papilloma virus (HPV) which can cause cervical cancer. The vaccines are part of almost twenty years work for Frazer who began his career at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1971.
Frazer said he was inspired by the work of Harald zur Hausen, a German virologist who shared the recently announced 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine, for discovering that HPV causes cervical cancer.
Frazer's team have another two HPV vaccines in clinical trials at the moment that are designed to treat women who are already infected with the virus. "The job's not done until we can protect the millions of women at risk from cervical cancer," he said.
Gustav Nossal, a pathologist from the University of Melbourne, said that Frazer's achievement is well deserving of recognition: "This vaccine has been brilliantly successful and the rollout in Australia has really led the world in terms of both uptake and freedom from any significant side effects."
Holey fibres!
Tanya Monro, also a COSMOS Magazine 2006 Bright Spark, was awarded the Malcolm MacIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year for her work in the field of photonics and optic fibres. Monro and her team at the Centre of Expertise in Photonics at the University of Adelaide created a new type of optic fibre which has air holes along its length.
Ken Baldwin,of the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra said Monro is a rising star in Australian science and that her work has excellent potential.
"The new optical fibres being developed are deliberately designed with air-filled microstructures to allow precise control over their light transmission properties. This will provide a new enabling technology for optical communications, novel lasers, and sensors to monitor chemical and biological processes," he said.
