Monash dominates Victorian Young Tall Poppy awards

The Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS) 2015 Victorian Young Tall Poppy Science Awards were announced this week, celebrating the best and brightest young achievers in the state.

Young Tall Poppies are early-career researchers, with fewer than 10 years of postdoctoral experience, who combine world-class research with a passionate commitment to communicating science. Award winners spend a year sharing their knowledge with school students, teachers and the broader community through workshops, seminars and public lectures.

“Many Young Tall Poppies go on to achieve even greater things and to become inspiring leaders in their field,” noted AIPS General Manager Camille Thomson. “They also become role models by working with the education and community sectors to encourage greater engagement in science.”

Of the eight young researchers awarded this week, four were from Monash University. They included the following:

• Dr Ailie Gallant, whose research aims to help us better predict and prepare for droughts.
• Dr Pascal Molenberghs, who hopes to guide new strategies for improved social functioning after brain injury.
• Dr Qiaoliang Bao, who has discovered a new approach to grow ultrathin materials on flexible glass on a large scale.
• Dr Tracy Heng, whose research has revealed that certain hormones have negative effects on the thymus and on T cell function.

AIPS also recognised an overall winner of the night: Misty Jenkins from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, who has made a number of critical discoveries on how the immune system controls cancer and rids us of malignant cells. She uses highly innovative live cell imaging and confocal microscopy to define how the immune system rids the body of virus-infected or transformed target cells.

The other award winners were as follows:

• Dr Elisha Riggs, from Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, whose program for refugee and migrant health research has grown to span multiple health sectors including dental, maternal and child health and maternity services.
• Dr Suresh Mathivanan, from La Trobe University, who is developing medical kits where small amounts of blood samples can be used to test whether a person has cancer.
• Dr Tamsyn Van Rheenen, from The University of Melbourne, who is investigating the underlying causes of bipolar disorder, whether they are heritable and how they influence the everyday functioning of people who suffer from the condition.