in 2002, theThompson Prize evening, sponsored by Alltech, Bio-Rad and Proteome Systems, was held at the University of Sydney on 20 November.

We heard five excellent talks from:

Kate Michie
How does a cell find the middle? Investigation of a temperature sensitive ftsZ mutant
School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
University of Sydney

Mark Douglas
HSV-1 Capsid Proteins Interact with Cytoplasmic Dynein: Role in Retrograde Transport
Centre for Virus Research
Westmead Millennium Institute

Belinda Westman
The Transcription Factor Eos functions as a homomultimer
School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
University of Sydney

Ursula Rodgers
Integrin alphaVbeta3 is a novel tropoelastin receptor
School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
University of Sydney

Leanne Robinson
Proteomics and Glycoproteomics of Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome
School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
University of Sydney

Our panel of expert judges (Basil Roufogalis, Roger Daly, and Paul Curmi) had a tough time but eventually reached the decision the Mark Douglas was the 2002 Thompson Prize winner.

On the same evening, the SPG's three Lorne Travelling Fellowships were announced. Two of these (sponsored last year by BioRad and Proteome Systems) are for current postgraduates, while the third (sponsored by the SPG and entitled the Greg Ralston Memorial Lorne Fellowship) is for a 2002 Honours student that intends to continue on to a PhD in 2003.

The winners of these Scholarships were Belinda Westman (University of Sydney) and Daniel Ryan (University of Sydney).