Do you know a rising star in stem cell research?

Applications for $60,000 prizes for stem cell research are now open

Two up-and-coming leaders in stem cell science will receive $60,000 each to boost their career to the next level. If you know a promising stem cell researcher, encourage them to apply.

The 2024 Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research are open to mid-career researchers working in stem cell research in Australia. They could be working in medicine or life sciences, government or academia, as long as they have a primary focus on stem cells.

Applications are open to those who have completed their PhD or MD (research-based) within the past five to 10 years (from August 2014 to August 2019). Allowances will be made for research-career breaks, such as maternity leave.

The winners will be chosen for their scientific excellence, proven leadership ability, and the potential to have a continuing influence on stem cell research in Australia.

Many past prize recipients have gone on to win significant grants and other success, such as:

• Closer to repairing the brain: since winning an inaugural Metcalf Prize in 2014, Kaylene Young has made a mark on glial stem cell and multiple sclerosis (MS) research. She is developing a family study and a world-first MS stem cell biobank to study the genetics and mechanisms of the disease, and a clinical trial of magnetic brain stimulation for brain repair. She is the Brain Health theme leader of MS Research Flagship at the University of Tasmania, which has been supported with a Medical Research Futures Fund (MRFF) grant, and has received other funding from MS Australia, ARC, NHMRC, and others. She is pictured (right) at the award ceremony with Don Metcalf, Gustav Nossal and fellow winner Jose Polo.
• Building a blood cancer treatment from the ground up: Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre clinician-scientist and 2017 Metcalf Prize winner Mark Dawson won the Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year at the 2020 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science. He has since been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
• Newborn babies offer clues for healing hearts: heart regeneration researcher and 2018 Metcalf Prize winner Enzo Porrello from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is now director of the Melbourne Node of the recently established Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW) and he is the founding co-director of the Melbourne Centre for Cardiovascular Genomics and Regenerative Medicine (CardioRegen). He and his colleagues have received funding boosts from the MRFF Stem Cells Therapies Mission for a project that aims to repair and reconstruct tissues for kids with heart defects and a special MRFF grant to use stem cell models to screen potential treatments for COVID-19-realted heart damage.

You can read more about the Metcalf Prize alumni and the research they were awarded for on our website.

The Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research recognise and honour the exceptional contribution made to stem cell research by the late Professor Donald Metcalf. In the course of his 50-year career, Don helped transform cancer treatment and transplantation medicine and paved the way for potential stem cell therapy for many other conditions.

The Metcalf Prizes form part of the Foundation’s mission to support researchers whose work improves our understanding of the human body and the diseases that affect it and leads to proven stem cell therapies.

Applications close Friday 9 August 2024. We encourage last year’s unsuccessful applicants to apply again this year if they are still eligible.

To apply online, and for a full list of criteria and conditions, head to the Foundation’s website: www.stemcellfoundation.net.au/metcalf_prizes.

If you have any questions about eligibility or the application process, please contact Tanya Ha at Science in Public, who administers the awards for the Foundation: [email protected]