Immunologists take the prizes

Professor Ian Frazer has added another award to his bulging cabinet, this time the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.

The prize, worth $300,000, is Australia’s richest prize for scientists. It comes on top of this year’s Balzan Prize, last year’s Howard Florey Medal and the 2006 Australian of the Year.

The winner of the $50,000 Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year is Dr Carola Vinuesa of the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU.

Vinuesa discovered and named roquin, a gene coding for the protein Roquin that works with microRNAs to ensure the quality control of antibodies.

A mutation in roquin results in it instructing T cells to react against the self, implicating it in autoimmune diseases.

The winner of the prize for physical scientist of the year is Dr Tanya Monro of the University of Adelaide, who works in optical fibres.

Bronwyn Mart of Magill Primary School in Adelaide won the prize for excellence in science teaching in primary schools, while Clay Reid of Clare High School in Clare, SA, won the secondary teachers’ prize. Both collect $50,000.