Thompson Prize night 2008

This year’s Thompson prize talks were held at the University of NSW. Six finalists were selected to speak:

(1) Lorna Wilkinson White (USyd), a recent PhD graduate, told us how specific metal ions affect the transthyretin amyloid formation pathway.

(2) Simon Brown (U Wollongong), also a recent PhD graduate, but from further a field (completing his PhD at UCSD, USA), gave us a stunning talk on the structural basis of isoform selective CAMP-dependant protein kinase activation. Simon was also the winner.

(3) Briony Jack, from the University of Sydney, presented compelling evidence on how C-terminal binding protein, a transcriptional co-repressor, regulates adipogenesis.

(4) Aaron McGrath (USyd) showed off his human diamine oxidase crystal structure while

(5) James Cooke (Macquarie) explained the dynamics and structure of Troponin I, the molecular switch of striated muscle contraction, using Site-Directed Spin Labeling Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (SDSL-EPR).

(6) The last talk of the evening was from Arwen Cross (USyd), who discussed the different oligomeric properties of LIM-domain binding proteins.

Supper and drinks were served after the talks, sponsored by Thermo Scientific and the Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facility (BMSF) (see left). The winners of the annual Lorne Travel Scholarships were also announced: Ben Parker (USyd) won the Greg Ralston Memorial scholarship while Jens Moll (Macquarie) and Nicholas Scott (USyd) won the scholarships sponsored by GE Healthcare and Bio-Rad respectively.

The SPG would like extend a special thanks to Mark Raftery who organised the evening, the trade sponsors and of course the judging panel: Chris Dos Remedios (USyd), Carolyn Geczy (UNSW) and Roger Daly (Garvan).

Finally, thanks to all the students who entered both the Thompson prize and Lorne Scholarships, the standard of applications was very high, so please enter in 2009 if you were not successful this time around.