Finals
The finals of the Young Investigator Award were held on Thursday 15 October at the Science Exchange, Royal Institution of Australia.
The three finalists presented their research in 'lay language' to a general audience and were judged by a media panel representing television, radio and the press.
The winner of the 2009 Young Investigator Award was:
Alison Care, PhD candidate - NHMRC Dora Lush Biomedical Postgraduate Scholar, Research Centre for Reproductive Health, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Adelaide for her research entitled: Why the immune system counts during pregnancy. Her research examines the role of macrophages in corpus luteum function in early pregnancy, namely their involvement in the ovary’s ability to produce sufficient progesterone to maintain pregnancy and may help improve knowledge of the role played by the immune system in miscarriage.
The two equal runners-up were:
Kathryn Gebhardt, PhD candidate - Research Centre for Reproductive Health, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Adelaide for her research entitled: Are your eggs all they are cracked up to be: picking the best egg for a successful pregnancy. Her research involves measuring genes in the cells that surround a mature egg to determine which egg has the greatest chance of a successful pregnancy outcome after fertility treatment and may significantly improve the success rates of fertility treatments, such as in-vitro fertilisation.
Dr Roger Yazbeck, Grant Funded Scientist, Department of Gastroenterology at Women’s & Children’s Hospital, CYWHS (PhD awarded 2009 from School of Biological Sciences Flinders University) for his research entitled: Mummy, how can I make my tummy stop hurting? He is concerned about the rising incidence of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in children and his research involves exploring treatments for IBD using a novel class of anti-diabetic drugs known as DP inhibitors, aimed at reducing inflammatory disease severity.
Alison received a $10,000 prize (The Hon Carolyn Pickles Award) from Carolyn herself and the two runners-up received $3,000 each from Dr Tony Sherbon, Chief Executive SA Health.