WEHI Press Releases

Updated 07:34 AM (EST) on Friday, May 9, 2008

Press Releases Prior to 1st July 2006

Click on the month in the year of interest below to see archived WEHI Press Releases for that year/month

9/5/2008 - Key step in the “puncture” mechanism of cell death revealed

A team of medical researchers led by Dr Ruth Kluck at Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) has discovered a key step in the mechanism by which cells destroy themselves. [More...]

1/5/2008 - US honour for Professor Jerry Adams

The National Academy of Sciences of the United States has announced that WEHI’S Professor Jerry Adams has been elected a member of this prestigious organization of scientists and engineers. The NAS citation notes that he was elected in recognition of his “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” [More...]

29/4/2008 - Drs Lindeman and Visvader recognised for outstanding breast cancer research

Drs Jane Visvader and Geoff Lindeman, researchers at Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, have been presented with the GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence for their outstanding contribution to breast cancer research. [More...]

2/4/2008 - Professor Suzanne Cory honoured with national citation award

The Director of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Professor Suzanne Cory, is one of the top ten Australian recipients of the 2008 Thomson Scientific Citation Awards announced at the National Press Club in Canberra. [More...]

20/3/2008 - Professor Bill Heath elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science

WEHI warmly congratulates Professor Bill Heath, who has just been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. This year, seventeen Fellows were elected in recognition of careers that have significantly advanced the world’s scientific knowledge. [More...]

27/2/2008 - Abbott, Genentech and WEHI collaborate to research and develop new anti-cancer drugs

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) announced today that Abbott, a global, broad-based, healthcare company, Genentech, a leading biotechnology company based in South San Francisco and WEHI have joined in a tripartite research collaboration to discover new anti-cancer drugs. [More...]

18/2/2008 - WEHI success in NHMRC funding

In the recently announced round of NHMC funding, fifteen WEHI scientists achieved notable success. [More...]

21/12/2007 - WEHI tops citation impact rankings

In a nationwide comparison of citations and their impact, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute has emerged in first place, having the highest impact across all fields with an average of 19.52 citations per paper. [More...]

20/12/2007 - Prestigious prize for Dr Geoff Lindeman

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians has awarded the Eric Susman Prize to Dr Geoff Lindeman. The annual award is for a Fellow of the RACP who has had the most outstanding research published within the preceding two years, relating to any branch of internal medicine. [More...]

20/12/2007 - Gottschalk Medal win for Dr Gabrielle Belz

The Australian Academy of Science has announced that Dr Gabrielle Belz is the winner of the coveted Gottschalk Medal for 2008. The medal recognises outstanding research in the medical sciences by a researcher under forty years old. [More...]

18/12/2007 - Dr Keith Watson awarded by the ATSE

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) has conferred upon WEHI’s Dr Keith Watson the great honour of election as a Fellow of the Academy. [More...]

13/12/2007 - Malaria’s multiple infection and evasion capabilities must be countered to create an effective vaccine

Malaria, a mosquito-borne parasitic disease, is responsible for around one million childhood deaths each year. Many millions of other children are infected and suffer debilitating sickness because of the disease. Nearly half the world’s population - about 3 billion people - lives in areas affected by malaria. [More...]

13/12/2007 - NHMRC honours Prof Terry Speed for outstanding achievement

At an inaugural event in Canberra, Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, has announced that Professor Terry Speed is the recipient of an NHMRC Achievement Award. [More...]

10/12/2007 - Professor Brendan Crabb appointed Director and CEO of the Burnet Institute

Professor Suzanne Cory, Director of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, has congratulated WEHI’s Professor Brendan Crabb on his appointment as Director and CEO of the Burnet Institute. Professor Cory paid tribute to Professor Crabb as a scientist of immense talent who will be a tremendous asset to the Burnet Institute. [More...]

29/11/2007 - European Molecular Biology Organization elects two WEHI scientists

The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), which is comprised of the leading molecular life scientists throughout Europe, has elected as Associate Members Professor Jerry Adams, the Joint Head of WEHI’s Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division, and Professor Suzanne Cory, WEHI’s Director. [More...]

14/11/2007 - Gabrielle Belz wins Burnet Prize

Dr Gabrielle Belz, from the Immunology Division, has won the Burnet Prize, a highly prestigious scientific award bestowed by The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. The announcement was made at WEHI’s Annual General Meeting on 13 November 2007.

[More...]

17/10/2007 - Celebrating Burnet’s 50-Year Revolution

In “far off” Melbourne in October 1957, Frank Macfarlane Burnet, then the Director of WEHI, launched a worldwide revolution in immunology. Burnet correctly predicted something fundamental and amazingly profound: how the body’s immune system responds to infection. [More...]

12/10/2007 - NHMRC Great Minds in Australian Research: Prof Doug Hilton

To read the NHMRC announcement about Doug Hilton, click here. [More...]

3/10/2007 - Congratulations to Dr James Beeson, a "Cosmos Bright Spark."

To read the feature about James Beeson from the October-November issue of "Cosmos" magazine, click here.
[More...]

1/10/2007 - WEHI duo are Young Tall Poppies

Dr Ben Croker and Dr Benjamin Kile have been honoured with Young Tall Poppy awards. [More...]

1/10/2007 - Lifetime achievement in flow cytometry

WEHI’s Head of Flow Cytometry, Dr Frank Battye, has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australasian Flow Cytometry Group. [More...]

25/9/2007 - WEHI-led team secures $10.4m to tackle type 1 diabetes; and a further $16.7m in NHMRC Grants and Fellowships

NHMRC funding announced in Sydney today by the Commonwealth Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Tony Abbott MP, included a total of $27.1 million to WEHI researchers. [More...]

28/8/2007 - New company starts, bridging the development gap in the discovery of cancer drugs

Cancer Therapeutics CRC Pty Ltd (CTx) has commenced operations as one of the largest public/private partnerships of its type in the world. Underpinned by AUD$148 million in funding over seven years, including AUD$37.6 million from the Australian Commonwealth Government, CTx addresses the gap between Australia’s excellent academic cancer research base and its ability to discovery and develop new drugs to treat cancer. [More...]

24/8/2007 - Australian Synchrotron in medical visualisation advance

The Premier, Mr John Brumby, today announced that scientists from WEHI have now visualised how a “molecular switch” that regulates the life span of normal cells and cancer cells can be flipped. The visualised molecular switch regulates the normal and healthy process of cell death, whereby cells that are damaged or no longer needed are induced to self-destruct. [More...]

16/8/2007 - Malaria’s deadly weapon: a morphing molecule that keeps the parasite a step ahead

Plasmodium falciparum, the mosquito-borne blood parasite that causes the deadliest form of human malaria, has evolved an ingenious mechanism to protect itself against the human immune system: a molecule that constantly reinvents itself. A new understanding of how this morphing molecule helps the parasite survive inside red blood cells could assist scientists to develop new treatments for the disease. [More...]

16/8/2007 - WEHI’s Erinna Lee wins Victoria Fellowship

Erinna Lee is one of six winners of prestigious 2007 Victoria Fellowships. She received the award from the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser at Government House. [More...]

2/8/2007 - WEHI trio win Australian Fellowships from NHMRC

Professors Alan Cowman, Doug Hilton and Andreas Strasser have been awarded inaugural Australian Fellowships.

The highly prestigious Fellowships were introduced by the NHMRC “to provide support for the most outstanding health and/or medical researchers [and] outstanding research teams…to undertake research that is of major importance in its field and of significant benefit to Australian health and medical research.” Each Fellowship is worth $4 million over five years and will enable WEHI’s research teams to intensify their efforts in defining the mechanisms of some of humanity’s most deadly diseases and seeking more effective treatments.
[More...]

20/7/2007 - Inexorable cancer growth: is it driven by most cells within a tumour or by only a small fraction of them?

Research in recent years has suggested that the relentless growth of many cancers is sustained by a rare population of cells termed “cancer stem cells.” However, new research by a WEHI scientific team has shown that the growth of at least some tumours is instead sustained by the majority of cells within the cancer.

[More...]

19/7/2007 - Designing individual treatments for coeliac disease

Treatments individually tailored to the 200,000 Australians with coeliac disease are now closer following Victorian research into the molecular workings behind the disease. [More...]

6/7/2007 - Discovery of a mechanism for killing cells that are stressed owing to deregulated metabolism

One of the essential functions of cells is the manufacture of proteins, which are important in determining the structure, function and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs. A part of every cell is a network of folds called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which operates as a packaging and storage system for proteins to be translocated to different parts of the cell. [More...]

Updated 07:34 AM (EST) on Friday, May 9, 2008