The Eureka Prizes - Our Top Medical Researchers

 
The Australia Museum's Eureka Prizes were announced in Sydney this week recognising the best in science, innovation, leadership, research and science journalism in Australia.
Let's take a look at the Eureka Prize winners in the fields of medicine.
Hepatitis B Elimination
Dr Marc Pellegrini and Dr Greg Ebert, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, won the Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre Eureka Prize for Infectious Diseases Research. The Melbourne researchers led a team that found a new use for an anti-cancer drug can be used to eliminate hepatitis B.
Blood Production
Prof Peter Currie and Phong Nguyen, both from Monash University, and Dr Georgina Hollway, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, won the University of New South Wales Eureka Prize for Scientific Research. They unlocked a mechanism that triggers stem cell production in blood, making the production of blood cells in the laboratory more achievable, reducing the pressure on blood banks.
Discovering Diseased Cells
Professors Dayong Jin, from the University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University, Tanya Monro, from the University of South Australia and University of Adelaide, and Bradley Walsh, from Minomic International and Macquarie University, won the University of New South Wales Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research. They created tiny crystals that can be implanted in the body to reveal diseased cells.
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Medical Journalism
The 2015 Department of Industry and Science Eureka Prize for Science Journalism was won by Dr Elizabeth Finkel for her coverage in Cosmos Magazine of the statins controversy.
And importantly, encouraging the next generation:
Prof Marilyn Renfree, from the University of Melbourne, won the University of Technology Sydney Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers. She’s been a mentor and inspiration to young researchers for three decades and says she tries to protect them from the “day to day trivia that gets in the way of the exciting thing that is discovery of science”.
Well done to all our award-winning medical researchers.