GGAGG—five letters that launched a biotechnology revolution: 2010 winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science

John Shine

As a PhD student at the Australian National University, John Shine discovered the importance of a brief sequence of genetic code. It took him three years to determine that sequence and what it does. At its core are five letters—GGAGG—which tell ribosomes, the protein factories in all living things, to start making a protein.

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The first mother: how our deep ancestors lived, loved and died: 2010 winner of the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year

Katherine Trinajstic

Three hundred and eighty million years ago, on the Gogo Barrier Reef in what is now the Kimberley Ranges, our early ancestors were developing teeth, jaws, limbs, and even a womb.

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Finding a cancer gene’s day job: making blood stem cells: 2010 winner of The Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year

Benjamin Kile

Benjamin Kile is unravelling the secrets of blood in a series of discoveries at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research in Melbourne.

He has discovered why platelets—the blood cells responsible for clotting—have a short shelf life at the blood bank. There’s a molecular clock ticking away that triggers cell death.

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Scientists are created in primary school: 2010 winner of The Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools

Matthew McCloskey

Matthew McCloskey is in the vanguard of the renaissance of primary science teaching in Australia—bringing real science experiments back into the classroom, building on his own experience as a research scientist and zoologist.

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Science teaching has to be practical: 2010 winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools

Debra Smith

Over thirty years of teaching, Debra Smith has not only inspired thousands of students, she has helped redefine how science is taught in Queensland and across Australia.

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