Bionic researcher ears prize

The Victorian researcher who has played a key role in demonstrating how to prevent the risk of meningitis following cochlear implant surgery has been awarded the 2008 Victorian Premier's Award for Health and Medical Research.

Victorian Premier John Brumby presented Dr Benjamin Wei with the award at a ceremony at Government House today and said it built on the worldwide acclaim Wei has received for the discovery and his subsequent recommendations on how to prevent the risk.

The cochlear implant, or bionic ear, has brought the gift of hearing to over 120,000 adults and children worldwide since it was developed by Professor Graeme Clark and his team in the late 1970s at the University of Melbourne's Department of Otolaryngology.

Brumby said Wei had won the award for both his discovery and subsequent recommendations.

"This work has had profound health outcomes as it provides potentially life-saving changes to the way that patients are managed," he said.

"These include vaccinating people against meningitis at the time of their bionic ear implant and a set of formal guidelines associated with the design and surgical techniques used in cochlear implants.

"The knowledge gained from Dr Wei's work could also be extended to the challenges associated with infection in other implantable devices - such as cardiac pacemakers - which is vitally important as our population ages and expectations for health care increase."

Wei, who is currently a surgeon-scientist registrar, is training to become a specialist surgeon in otolaryngology and head and neck surgery through the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

He received $16,000 and a trophy. The Bionic Ear Institute also received the $30,000 Jack & Robert Smorgon Families Award.

Brumby also presented three $8000 Commendation awards to Monash University PhD student Hilary Hoare, whose research has revealed how the protein HLA-E interacts with T cells, which has implications for preventing transplanted organs from being rejected; Dr Priscilla Kelly of WEHI, who discovered that Bcl-x, a protein that inhibits apoptosis, is essential for cancer formation; and PhD student Linda Wakim of the University of Melbourne, who discovered that killer T cells can directly respond to an infection without having to recirculate back to the lymph nodes or spleen.