Dr Brendan Crabb wins David Syme Research Award

Friday, June 9th 2006

The continuing catastrophe of malaria kills up to three million people a year, while infecting and debilitating around 10% of humanity - some 500,000,000 people.

Dr Brendan Crabb has been honoured for his pivotal role in enhancing knowledge of malaria as an essential precondition for developing more effective control measures.

In recent years, the field of malaria investigation has been stimulated by the sequencing of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria. Dr Crabb is a renowned authority in the development of genomic and proteomic technologies that exploit the sequence data to characterize the function of malaria proteins. He has applied this technology to identify and validate vaccine candidate antigens, to understand anti-parasite immunity and to unravel the molecular mechanisms behind the extreme virulence of the parasite.

Reflecting on the award to Dr Crabb, WEHI Director, Professor Suzanne Cory, said, "The search for an effective malaria vaccine remains one of mankind’s greatest health challenges. Dr Brendan Crabb and his team have made important progress toward this goal by identifying new potential vaccine molecules and by providing insight into the type of immunity that needs to be generated for a vaccine to be useful."

The David Syme Research Prize is awarded by the University of Melbourne for the best original research work in biology, physics, chemistry or geology produced during the preceding two years.

Further information:

Mr. Brad Allan

WEHI Communications Manager
Phone: (03) 9345 2345
Mobile: 0403 036 116
Email: allan@wehi.edu.au