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Left-handed plants; nano-safety; fighting viruses
The 2008 L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellows are:
These pages contain full profiles, images and interviews (video and audio) with all winners.They will receive their Fellowships from David de Kretser, Governor of Victoria and Mark Tucker, CEO of L’Oréal Australia at a ceremony at Eureka89 in Melbourne at 6pm on Tuesday 26 August. "These four young women are already leaders in their fields," says Mark Tucker. "They were chosen from 213 applicants. Each receives a $20,000 Fellowship which we hope will help them through the most challenging part of any science career – the transition from PhD to independent researcher." This is the second year of the L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellowships. Big ecology: from tundra to rainforest, desert to savannaAngela MolesEvolutionary biologist Angela Moles visited 75 ecosystems in her effort to understand the big picture – how and why plants vary. She and her team are still mining the data but are already making intriguing findings. For example: plant seeds in the tropics are, on average, 300 times bigger than seeds in colder places; and vines are left-handed: 92% of vines around the world twist anticlockwise as they climb. Read more on the vines research. She is a leader in developing a new approach to ecology—one that could allow us to accurately model and predict the impact of climate change on ecosystems. Are nanoparticles safe?Amanda BarnardNanotechnology is being used in catalysts, in surface treatments for glass, in cosmetics and in drug delivery. Many more applications are just around the corner. But how will these particles behave in the environment? Theoretical physicist Amanda Barnard will use her L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellowship to create computational tools to predict the behaviour of nanoparticles in the environment. Crystallising a career in immunologyNatalie BorgProtein chemist Natalie Borg is analysing protein crystals with synchrotron light, to figure out how our bodies mount a rapid defence when we are attacked by viruses. The L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellowship will help her become established as an independent researcher at Monash University. “This is the basic research that needs to take place before we can make better drugs and vaccines to treat and prevent viral infections,” she says. Unravelling the complexity of the immune systemErika CretneyImmunologist Erika Cretney is fascinated by the human immune system. With the help of her L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellowship, she is pursuing a new target: a small group of T cells that play a role in controlling inflammation and in auto-immune diseases. The Fellowship will help with childcare costs as she balances a full-time research career with the needs of her young son.
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