Final week for award nominations

There's barely a week left for you to enter the inaugural Australian Biotechnology News awards, but the good news is that you still have time.

We're excited to have the opportunity to offer these awards, and reward the people who have helped to make a big difference, right across the scope of the Australian biotech landscape.

People like Prof Adrienne Clarke, Victoria's biotechnology ambassador, one of the most respected people in the biotech community and a nominee for our Lifetime Achievement award.

Or companies like natural product drug development company Cerylid Biosciences, a nominee for the Biomedical Industry Development Award.

Or then there's George Kraguljak, the CEO of Advanced Rapid Robotic Manufacturing, whose technology is now used across the life sciences - a nominee for Entrepreneur of the Year.

There's a category for everyone in the sector, whether you're at the lab bench, taking your research into a spin-off, running an established company or helping to commercialise someone else's research. The categories in full are:

• The Young Scientist of the Year Award recognizes excellence by a researcher who in the previous 12 months has been awarded a PhD.
• The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a life-long commitment by the individual to the development of the life sciences industry in Australia.
• Candidates can be drawn from research, academic, business or policy fields.
• The Entrepreneur of the Year Award will be presented to the individual who, in the determination of the judging panel, has most successfully commercialised biotechnology intellectual property in the previous twelve months. Nominations are not restricted to Australian residents.
• The Biomedical, Agricultural Biotech and Bio-IT Industry Development Awards are each to be given to the organisation that has contributed most to the successful commercialisation of research in their field in Australia. The awards are open to public and private companies, public and private research institutes, public policy makers, and individuals.

Award winners will be selected by a panel of judges, well-known within the Australian biotechnology community: Dr Shirley Lanning (TSL Group, Melbourne), Dr Tim Littlejohn (BioLateral, Sydney), Dr Graham Mitchell (Foursight, Melbourne), and Bob Moses (National Stem Cell Centre, Melbourne).

Finally, the Editor's Choice Award will be given to the individual who in the eyes of the editor of Australian Biotechnology News has influenced the development of the local biotechnology sector most significantly in the past 12 months.

I hope that you will all support these awards, so that we can run them again next year.

For more information, or to receive a nomination form, please call me on (02) 9902 2765, or e-mail Iain_Scott@idg.com.au