Colman the Mayne man for 2004

The awards keep coming for X-ray crystallographer Prof Peter Colman, whose 3D elucidation of the influenza virus's neuraminidase enzyme in the 1980s helped build a firewall against the most dangerous virus on the planet.

The former CSIRO researcher, now head of structural biology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research in Melbourne, is this year's winner of the $25,000 Mayne Florey Award for his pioneering work in identifying a pocket-like structure in the surface of the influenza virus' neuraminidase protein that is highly conserved across all serotypes of the changeling virus.

The pocket-like structure subsequently became the target for the revolutionary shape-mimic anti-viral drug zanamvir (GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza), which can halt or prevent infection by preventing newly formed virions escaping from infected cells lining the lining the respiratory tract.

The annual award is sponsored by health products and services company the Mayne Group (ASX:MAY) and named in honour of penicillin pioneer Sir Howard Florey.

The Australian Institute of Political Science, which also runs Australian Tall Poppy awards for high achievement, makes the Mayne Florey Award annually. Alzheimer's disease researcher Prof Colin Masters was last year's winner.

Colman, who had previously won Australia's major science award, the Australia Prize, in 1996, is now working on an anti-cancer drug that will force tumour cells into programmed cell death, or apoptosis.

He said developing a 'designer' anti-cancer drug was a far more complex challenge than developing zanamavir.

The drug will be mimic the strucuture of a highly conserved helical peptide domain of a protein called BH3-only, that slots into a shallow groove on a second protein, Bcl-2, identified by WEHI researcher Dr David Vaux in 1988 as a key inhibitor of programmed cell death, or apoptosis.

Bcl-2 immortalises tumour cells by blocking a suicide signal that would normally force cancerous cells to commit suicide. By blocking Bcl-2, a peptide mimic could potentially be a generic weapon against a wide range of cancers.

The problem, says Colman, is that his team is shooting at a moving target -- it is not clear whether the target groove is already present in the Bcl-2 protein, or whether it forms when the BH3-only peptide makes contact. He predicted it would take a long time to develop a successful drug.

"We need to figure out whether we need to induce a conformational change in Bcl-2, and it's a major problem just to understand the dynamics of the process," he said.

Colman described the Mayne Florey award as "very generous", and said it was a great honour to be associated with the name of Howard Florey, and to be able to bring health benefits to so many people.