Nanotech pioneer amongst new federation fellows

Twenty-five scientists will receive a $235,000 salary each year for the next five years, plus several hundred thousand dollars each in on-costs support, under the federation fellowships announced today by the federal government.

Funded through the Australian Research Council’s National Competitive Grants Program and part of the government’s $5.3 billion Backing Australia’s Ability program, the fellowships are designed to attract leading expatriate researchers back to Australia, to encourage those already here to stay, and to entice international researchers to Australia.

In the latest round 10 fellowships were awarded to scientists resident in Australia, 10 were awarded to expats, who will return to positions in Australia, and five were awarded to foreign nationals.

Up to 125 fellowships are available over the 5 years of the program. This year was the fourth selection round.

One of the recipients -- a very happy Prof Mathias Trau -- is a physical chemist at the University of Queensland. Trau’s research is focused on building and testing nano-scaled devices with the ability to function as high-throughput biological reading devices.

“It’s a tremendous boost for our research activities,” he said. “It’s a long-term funding input, which is the most difficult to get in the Australian funding climate.”

The university will also match Trau’s fellowship salary for the next five years, providing much needed funds for his team’s research.

“It’s an input that’s on a par with what labs in competition with us receive overseas, so it allows us to maintain our competitive edge,” he said. “It will help keep the technology evolving, if you don’t have along-term input that can’t happen.”

Last year Trau set up the company Nanomics Biosystems, which he said is now moving along well. “Funding is critical for the biotechnology company itself,” he said.

“It will flow on to Nanomics and other commercial opportunities that transpire from our work.”

Other awardees are listed below:

Assoc Prof Ashley Bush: the role of metals in the biology of the ageing brain; currently at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Melbourne, host institution The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria.

Prof Alan Mark: self-organisation in (bio) molecular systems: simulating the folding and aggregation of peptides, proteins and lipids; currently at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, host institution the University of Queensland.

Assoc Prof Rachel Wong: assembly of neural circuits during development; current institution Washington University School of Medicine, host institution the University of Queensland.

Prof Steven Smith: metabolomic and genetic approaches to the discovery of genes that direct carbon partitioning in plants; current institution the University of Edinburgh, host institution the University of Western Australia.

Prof Alan Cooper: Using ancient DNA to understand Australia’s past and manage its future; currently at Oxford University, host institution the University of Adelaide.

Prof Leigh Simmons: the evolution of female mating frequency and its consequences; currently at the University of Western Australia, host institution the University of Western Australia.

Dr Jill Trewhella: molecular mechanisms of biochemical regulation: neutron and x-ray scattering studies; current institution Los Alamos National Laboratory, host institution the University of Sydney.

Prof Paul Griffiths: biohumanities: philosophical, historical, and socio-cultural studies of contemporary bioscience; currently at the University of Pittsburgh, host institution the University of Queensland.

Prof David Chalmers: the contents of consciousness, currently at the University of Arizona, host institution the Australian National University.

Prof Ary Hoffman: evaluating the adaptive potential of organisms to respond to environmental change; currently at La Trobe University, host institution the University of Melbourne.