Women in Science

One unlucky letter causes an infant epilepsy

A 20 year old mystery was solved this week with the discovery that an epilepsy that affects infants is caused by the change of a single letter in one gene. Seizures in infancy are not rare, but this familial epilepsy occurs in probably 60 families across Australia. It can also cause a movement disorder later in life.
[continue reading…]

Global recognition for Melbourne epilepsy pioneer

Australian paediatric neurologist Professor Ingrid Scheffer is the Asia-Pacific L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Laureate for 2012L’Oréal and UNESCO have just announced that Australian paediatric neurologist Professor Ingrid Scheffer is the Asia-Pacific L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Laureate for 2012.

She is one of five international winners who will each receive US$100,000 in recognition of their contribution to the advancement of science at the Awards Ceremony on 22 March 2012 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

For more information:

[continue reading…]

L’Oreal Australia: Five women moving science forward

Issued by L’Oreal Australia

L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science grants Australian Scientist US$100,000 in one of the world’s most prestigious Science prizes:

The 14th Annual L’ORÉAL-UNESCO For Women in Science Award

Honouring five women who are moving science forward, the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science partnership announces its five exceptional women scientists from around the world who will receive the 2012 L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards in Life Sciences.

[continue reading…]

2010 fellow wins Inaugural Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize

The winner of the Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize, for her lung cancer research, is Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat, from Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI). Having unravelled key information on how and why breast stem cells contribute to the progression of breast cancer, she is now turning to the challenge of lung cancer. Her prize […]

Mentor of L’Oréal Fellow wins Nobel Prize

Tamara Davis, 2009 L’Oréal Australia Fellow tells of how she felt when she heard her mentors had won the Nobel Prize. Tuesday morning found me dancing in excitement when I heard the news that Brian Schmidt, Saul Perlmutter, and Adam Riess had won the Nobel Prize for their discovery of the acceleration of the expansion […]

Revealing the dark side – in Tasmania this week

What we see in the night sky is only five per cent of the Universe. So what’s the other 95 per cent of the Universe made of – a young physicist has the answers across Tasmania this week. One of Australia’s leading young physicists will reveal the dark secrets of the Universe in Tasmania this […]

2011 Fellows announced

Coral, Cancer Capsules & Conservation


Three $20,000 L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellowships for 2011 were awarded to talented Australian women in science on Tuesday, 23 August 2011.

Then on 24 August the three fellows visited the Australian Synchrotron and presented their research to 160 female students in year’s 9-11 for the L’Oréal Australia Girls in Science forum.

[continue reading…]

The complex life of coral

Tracy Ainsworth James Cook University Coral interactions more complex than ever suspected. Dr Tracy Ainsworth’s research is changing our understanding of the life of the tiny coral animals that built Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef. Her work comes at a critical time for the future of coral reefs—threatened by a warming ocean and by coral […]

Can we save the tiger with mathematics?

Eve McDonald-Madden The University of Queensland Turning to mathematics to allow us to make smarter conservation decisions. The diversity of life on Earth underpins the global economy. But we’re losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate and human-induced climate change will threaten more species—up to 37 per cent of the plants and animals with which we […]

A smarter way to deliver drugs

Georgina Such The University of Melbourne Smart capsules could change the way we deliver drugs. Today, when we’re treated for cancer, the drug spreads throughout the body indiscriminately. Along the way it causes side-effects such as nausea and hair loss. To tackle this problem Georgina imagines a miniscule capsule designed like a set of Russian […]