Victorian Premier presents Award for Medical Research

Two Melbourne researchers, Dr Merlin Thomas and Dr Stephen Ting, have jointly won the 2005 Victorian Premier's Award for Medical Research.

In a ceremony last week at Government House, each researcher was presented with a $16,000 award by the Victorian premier Steve Bracks.

"This is the first time two winners have shared the top prize and the calibre of their research is outstanding," said Bracks in a statement.

Ting, from the Rotary Bone Marrow Research Laboratories at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said that he received the award for his PhD research into a new family of genes called grainy head-like genes.

"The one I specifically studied was called GRHL3," said Ting. "Essentially when you knock out the gene in a mice model you get the abnormalities of spina bifida and also absence of wound healing and skin barrier."

Ting said that further research in mice models may lead to a possible etiology and diagnostic test in spina bifida and greater knowledge as to how this gene works to heal wounds and its role in skin barrier formation "which is essential for life".

Ting said that it was an "honour and a privilege" to receive the award but admitted that "it's a little bit embarrassing that they individualise it" given that it's really a reflection of the research that the group at the Rotary Bone Marrow Research Laboratory had conducted. He was pleased to see that the Laboratory had also received an equivalent plaque and the Jack and Robert Smorgon Families Award for $30,000.

The joint winner, Thomas received his award for research finding that high sugar levels change or modify protein, which in turn goes on to cause damage to organs in the body. Based at the Baker Heart Research Institute, which also received a $30,000 Jack and Robert Smorgon Families Award, Thomas is now developing a medical test for doctors to assess how much modified protein is in the system of a person with diabetes. This test will allow doctors to quickly ascertain the level of risk of organ damage in their patients.

Bracks also presented two $8,000 commendation awards, one to Dr Erika Cretney from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and the other to Lauren Ely from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the School of Biomedical Sciences, Monash University.

Cretney is the first researcher worldwide to show how the molecule TRAIL prevents cancerous tumours from growing and spreading when placed on the surface of cells in mice.

Ely received the award for her investigation into why the body sometimes rejects organ transplants.

The Awards have been running for 11 years and are presented in conjunction with the Australian Society for Medical Research to postgraduate scholars whose work is further enhancing Victoria's leading role in medical research.