Jenny Graves from LaTrobe U is winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. Professor Graves uses, “marsupials and monotremes, birds and lizards, to understand the complexity of the human genome.”

“Australia’s pouched and egg-laying mammals are a fantastic source of genetic variation because they last shared a common ancestor with placental mammals so long ago. They are truly independent experiments in mammalian evolution.”

Eric Reynolds from the University of Melbourne and the Oral Health CRC is the PM’s Innovation Prize winner. Professor Reynolds discovered a protein in milk now widely used to strengthen teeth. He now works on a vaccine for gum disease.

Jian Yang, University of Queensland is Frank Fenner Life Scientist of the Year for his work on genetic factors in complex diseases.

Dayong Jin (UTS) takes the Malcolm McIntosh Physical Scientist award for bringing “a physicist’s perspective to the challenge of biology.” He uses photonic technology in microscopes to identify individual diseased cells among a million healthy ones.

In a big win for the Illawarra Neil Bramsen (Mount Ousley Public School) is the PM’s prize winner for excellence in primary teaching. Brett McKay from Kirrawee High takes the prize for secondary teaching.