$1.5 Million Each For Three Scientists' Research Fellowships

Three young scientists who are likely to have a big impact on future medical research have been awarded Australia's most prestigious mid-career medical research fellowships.

Every year the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation awards two Senior Medical Research Fellowships, but this year they've decided to award an additional Fellowship.

The 2014 recipients are Professor Ryan Lister (Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and The University of Western Australia), Dr Marc Pellegrini (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) and Dr Nicolas Plachta (EMBL Australia and the Australian Regenerative Medicine.

In order to undertake leading-edge research in their area of expertise, each Fellow will receive $1.2 million, or $245,000 per year for five years, making it the most valuable mid-career medical research award available.

Chair of the Viertel Foundation’s Medical Advisory Board Professor Peter Leedman said the talented researchers were selected from a very strong field of candidates from all over Australia.

“In recognition of the extraordinary calibre of the shortlisted candidates this year, the Trustees of the Foundation agreed to award a third Fellowship this year,” Professor Leedman said.

“I thank the Trustees for supporting Australian science in this way.

"This major award will make a significant contribution to their careers and research impact.”

The research projects being undertaken by the researchers range from infectious disease and clinical trials in Hepatitis B, to deciphering details of the epigenome and how it can reshape brain function to unlocking the secrets of embryonic deformities.

Professor Leedman, who is also Director of the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, said the Fellowship would allow Professor Lister to head a laboratory at the Perkins Institute.

Professor Lister said he hoped to provide major advances in understanding the role of the epigenome in the human brain, advancing the application of regenerative medicine, and remedying epigenetic dysfunction in disease states.

Dr Marc Pellegrini, a laboratory head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, said the five-year fellowship would allow him to focus on his research into chronic infections such as HIV, hepatitis B and tuberculosis.

“We have made some significant discoveries about how the microbes that cause these diseases evade the immune system and are now exploring how these discoveries could be applied to eradicate hepatitis B, HIV and tuberculosis," Dr Pellegrini said.

“Research is a long-term proposition so having the security of the Viertel Fellowship to allow us to move our work through to clinical trials is incredibly important."

Dr Plachta said he was delighted to be selected by the Viertel Charitable Foundation.

“It is crucial that young researchers are given support at the start of their careers and I am thrilled that the Foundation has selected me,” he said.

“This support will give me the freedom to conduct ambitious long-term research that would otherwise be very difficult to fund. I hope that by understanding the dynamics of how cells function in living organisms will ultimately make it possible to understand why embryo deformities occur – something we know very little about at present.”