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AUS GENE RESEARCHERS WIN AWARD
Gene silencing researchers win top CSIRO award
16 November 2005. Source: CSIRO Media Release
A team of scientists who developed hairpin RNA interference (RNAi) a powerful technology to silence genes has won the 2005 CSIRO Chairman's Medal.
Hairpin RNAi is used to turn down or 'silence' genes and can be used to identify gene function and introduce disease resistance and novel traits in both plants and animals.
CSIRO has used hairpin RNAi in its research to alter oil composition in oilseeds to improve their nutritional value, and to produce potential alternative pharmaceutical ingredients in poppies.
It is also being used by a major international project to identify the function of every gene in the model plant Arabidopsis and by Florigene and Suntory to assist in developing the world's first blue rose.
CSIRO chairman, Catherine Livingstone, presented the award to team leader Dr Peter Waterhouse in a ceremony at CSIRO Discovery in Canberra this afternoon (16 November).
The hairpin RNAi team has led research in one of the most high profile, commercially relevant areas of modern molecular biology, Ms Livingstone says.
This is a technology that has the potential to have significant impact in the community, so it's important we have industry involvement to make this happen. Yet again, we see CSIRO delivering great science and innovation with practical benefits for the Australian people.
The CSIRO Chairman's Medal is awarded annually to the scientists who have carried out research and development of national or international importance in the advancement of scientific knowledge, technology application or commercialisation.
Dr Jim Peacock, former chief of CSIRO Plant Industry and now president of the Australian Academy of Science, won the CSIRO Medal for Lifetime Achievement, for his impact on CSIRO and science in Australia over the past 40 years.
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