Student Prizes

Prize Winners for 2005 – 2006

With the generous support of sponsors such as Invitrogen, Millipore, Olympus and Deutsche Bank, the Florey provides a number of scholarships and awards for outstanding students. Awards range from full PhD scholarships to travel prizes, but all have the aim of encouraging and rewarding scientific and academic excellence. Overall performance at the in-house review is considered when determining these prize winners.

Liana Colvill and Ayse Berke Travel Award

Heneu Tan (Ion Channels and Human Disease Group)

Heneu is using a novel mouse model to find out how a single gene mutation found in humans causes epilepsy. This award offered Heneu the opportunity to present his work at the Society for Neuroscience conference in Washington in late 2005. He was also invited to visit two institutes in the USA (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, and the Salk Institute, San Diego) to discuss prospective postdoctoral research opportunities.

HFI Key Partner Prize

Daniel Scott (Relaxin Group)

Daniel is a final year PhD student whose challenge is to characterise the molecular mechanics involved in how relaxin interacts with the insulin-like peptide-3 receptor to induce its activation. The Key Partner Prize was used to visit the laboratory of Michel Bouvier in Montreal, Canada, and Andreas Plückthun’s laboratory in Zürich, Switzerland, where Daniel enquired about potential postdoctoral projects.

Olympus Photography Prize

Chrissandra Zagami (Brain Injury and Repair Group)

Chrissandra routinely uses laser scanning confocal microscopy and light microscopy with fluorescently tagged antibodies to localise proteins within brain cells. During her candidature at the Florey, Chrissandra has studied the role that glial cells play in sustaining and supporting the function of spinal motor neurons. She has elegantly demonstrated, using imaging and neurochemical approaches, that transporters for the key excitatory transmitter, L-glutamate, act defensively to protect neurons from injury in a model of motor neuron disease. Chrissandra intends to further her research experience at the Montreal Neurological Institute, Canada.

Rotary PhD Scholarships

Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia PhD Scholarship

Young Achievement Australia Biotechnology Entrepreneur Program (2006)

BRAINYak, the company formed by a group of Florey students for this program, won the following awards:

Students