Deanna D’Alessandro University of Sydney A sponge that filters hot air and captures carbon dioxide We need better ways of capturing carbon dioxide emissions from power stations and industry. And we won’t be using hydrogen cars until we’ve developed practical ways of carrying enough hydrogen gas in the fuel tank. Deanna D’Alessandro’s understanding of basic […]

Welcome to the August bulletin celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity (IYOB) – from the Year’s coordinators. [continue reading…]

A compound produced by a pregnant lizard may provide important information on the origins and treatment of cancer in humans, according to zoologist Bridget Murphy from the University of Sydney, who discovered the protein, which is pivotal to the development of the lizard placenta.

“Our egg-laying ancestors probably never got cancer, but things changed when we started having live young. Embryos need an extensive network of blood vessels to allow them to grow. So do tumours.  I found that the three-toed skink, which gives birth to live young, uses a particularly powerful protein to encourage the growth of blood vessels. The only other place where this protein has been found is in pre-cancerous cells grown in the laboratory,” she says.

The placenta of the three toed skink is highly vascular (photo: Bridget Murphy)

Future research on unlocking the secrets of how the protein works might well provide the basis of new therapies for cancer, and to promote wound healing or the regeneration of blood vessels in patients with heart disease. Bridget’s work is being presented for the first time in public through Fresh Science, a communication boot camp for early career scientists held at the Melbourne Museum. She was one of 16 winners from across Australia.

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Applications for the 2010 L’Oréal Australia For Women In Science Fellowships have now closed. Below is the April bulletin for 2010. We’re pleased to include progress reports on our 2009 Fellows. As you will read, their work spans the full extent of space and time—from Marnie’s studies on how genes are controlled, through Tamara’s exploration […]

In this bulletin:

2010 Laureates announced
Two former Laureates win Nobel Prizes in Medicine and Chemistry
Prime Minister recognises L’Oréal Fellow with physical sciences prize
Updates from our 2007 and 2008 Australian Fellows – Tara Telescope in business, and more
Applying for Australian Fellowships for 2010

International Laureates announced
The winners of the 2010 L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Awards were announced on 14 October 2009.
The […]

Where did we come from; how are we made; and how will it all end?

These fundamental questions are being tackled by the 2009 L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellows who received their Fellowship from Mark Tucker, CEO of L’Oréal Australia, at a ceremony at L’Oréal’s Australian head office in Melbourne on Tuesday 25 August.

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Zenobia Jacobs

University of Wollongong

Zenobia Jacobs wants to know where we came from, and how we got here. When did our distant ancestors leave Africa and spread across the world? Why? And when was Australia first settled? [continue reading…]

Where did we come from; how are we made; and how will it all end?

These fundamental questions are being tackled by the 2009 L’Oréal Australia For Women in Science Fellows who received their Fellowship from Mark Tucker, CEO of L’Oréal Australia, at a ceremony at L’Oréal’s Australian head office in Melbourne on Tuesday 25 August.

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In Gouldian finches the answer is yes-according to an Australian paper published in the journal Science today. The paper challenges our view of sex determination in animals.

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