Gardasil creators reach European Inventor Award finals

Professor Ian Frazer and Dr Jian Zhou - the creators of the Gardasil HPV vaccine - have been named as finalists in the 2015 European Inventor Awards. The awards acknowledge inventions that have made major contributions towards social, technological and economic progress.

Professor Frazer and Dr Zhou began working on the HPV vaccine together in 1991 at The University of Queensland (UQ). Professor Frazer had so far been unsuccessful in growing the live virus in the laboratory, but Dr Zhou, a specialist in gene cloning, managed to clone HPV surface proteins onto a different virus that served as a template.

The scientists thus devised the formation of ‘virus-like particles’ (VLPs) - virus look-alikes constructed from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (traditionally used to make wine and beer). The VLPs mimic the surface structure of HPV viral DNA, eliciting the production of 30-80 times more antibodies than their natural counterparts when injected into the human body.

Dr Zhou died tragically in 1999, aged 42, but Professor Frazer continued the work of bringing their vaccine to market. He has since won 20 significant awards for his contributions to science, including being named Australian of the Year in 2006 and an Australian National Living Treasure in 2012.

Professor Frazer and his colleague have now been selected from 450 potential candidates to be one of 15 finalists for this year’s European Inventor Award, nominated in the non-European countries category. The award will be decided by an independent jury consisting of international authorities in the fields of business, science, academia and research.

The scientists are also contenders in the Popular Prize section, decided by a public vote which closes on 4 June. All winners will be announced in a ceremony in Paris on 11 June.

To vote for Professor Frazer and Dr Zhou, click here.