Centre Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)

The Scientific Advisory Boards, with members who, through their diverse, extensive and

international careers have a collective experience that can assist the Centre in maximizing

its opportunities.

 

 

Dr Wayne Gerlach

 

Wayne Gerlach is Executive Director - Biotechnology at Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Limited in Sydney. This is a molecular biology research facility of the Johnson & Johnson corporation. He has key interests in molecular genetics and natural product chemistries, with a focus on pharmaceutical applications.
Prior to his current appointment he was Research Director of the laboratory program at Johnson & Johnson Research from 1992 to 2002, building it from start-up to its current position as the largest research investment of a major healthcare corporation in Australia. Before that, he was a Program Leader and Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO Division of Plant Industry in Canberra.
Wayne Gerlach has a PhD in Genetics from The University of Adelaide and a Diploma in Management Development from Harvard Business School. In 1990 he was awarded the CSIRO Rivett Medal for research, and in 1992 was awarded the Lemberg Medal of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He has also held Rothmans, Harkness and Queen Elizabeth II Fellowships, and has held appointments in Cambridge, England, and at the University of California at Davis.
 

Professor Christopher Leaver CBE, ARCS, DIC, FRS, FRSE

Prof. Leaver has held the position of Sibthorpian Professor of Plant Science, Oxford University, UK, since 1990, and has been Head of Department since 1991. Following a BSc then PhD in Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at London's Imperial College, Chris Leaver was a Fulbright Scholar at Purdue University, USA. From 1969 to 1990 he rose from Lecturer to Professor of Plant Molecular Biology at University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
He is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including:
• Tate and Lyle Award from the Phytochemical Society of Europe in 1984
• Humboldt Prize in 1997
• Raine Medical Research Foundation Visiting Professor, The University of Western Australia 2001, and Visiting
Professor University of Western Australia, 2002-2005.
• Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1986, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1987, a member of Academia Europaea in 1988, a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 1982, serving on its Council 1991-97, and as its Chairman 1996-97
In the 2000 Queens New Year's Honours he was awarded the CBE for services to plant sciences.
Prof. Leaver was Director, Oxford University Isis Innovations Ltd. from 1996-2002. His research interests include the molecular, biochemical and cellular basis of plant development, the regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis and programmed cell death in plants. He has a strong interest in the public understanding of science and has been actively involved in the current debate on genetically modified crops in the UK and Europe.
 

Ian Dawes Professor Ian W. Dawes BSc (Hons I, UNSW, 1965) DPhil (Oxon, 1969) FAA

Professor Dawes is an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow, Scientia Professor of Genetics and Director of the Ramaciotti Centre for Gene Function Analysis at the University of New South Wales.  Ian is Chairman of the Finance and Policy Committee of the International Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Community.  His research interests are in the fields of regulation of gene expression during cell development and in response to stress or environmental changes.  His group uses genomic technologies through the operations of the Ramaciotti Centre for Gene Function Analysis. He has used a combination of biochemical genetic and genomic approaches to study cellular responses to oxidative stress, nutritional changes, ageing and how cells respond to anti-tumour drugs.  Ian has expertise in the field of regulation of gene expression with a strong interest in the mechanisms of gene regulation coupled with the way cells regulate their physiological processes in development or in response to external stimuli or stress.  He has used the powerful modern techniques of functional genomics to study how cells regulate sets of pathways in the cell, and how the control systems interact with each other.  He is an editor of FEMS Yeast Research (2005-) and Member of the Editorial Boards of Yeast and the Journal of Microbiology (2005-).  He is a Board Member of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and of the Australian Proteomic Analytical Facility, He is President-elect of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and molecular Biology, has been President of the Lorne Genome Conference Inc. and the Society for Free Radical Research (Australasia).
 

Professor Adrienne E Clarke AC, FAA, FTSE

Professor Clarke is Laureate Professor in the School of Botany at The University of Melbourne. She served as President of the International Society for Plant Molecular Biology (1997-1998). She is Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) and Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Clarke is also a member of the Boards of Fisher & Paykel Health Care Ltd, Woolworths Ltd and Hexima Ltd. She served as Chairman of the CSIRO Board (1991-1996), Lieutenant Governor of Victoria (1997-2000) and Ambassador for Biotechnology for Victoria (2001-2004). She is currently a member of the Innovation Economy Advisory Board for the Government of Victoria and Chairs VESKI (Victorian Endowment for Science, Knowledge & Innovation).
 

Dr Elizabeth S. Dennis

Prof. Dennis is one of the world's leading plant molecular biologists. She heads a CSIRO Program researching gene expression and plant development, improving the knowledge-base in strategic plant research. Her work has led to tangible outcomes in sectors of Australian agriculture.
Liz's scientific excellence is acknowledged through numerous awards:
• election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (1988)
• the Pharmacia LKB/Biotechnology Medal of the Australian Biochemical Society for contributions to Biochemical Research (1999)
• election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (1995)
• the Avon Spirit of Achievement Award (1997)
• the Lemberg Medal, for distinguished contributions to biochemistry (1998)
• the inaugural Prime Minister's Prize for Science (2000), together with Dr Jim Peacock, for research in plant molecular biology, particularly for their work on the initiation of flowering.
She has played a key role in mapping one of the first plant genomes as Chairman of the Multinational Arabidopsis Genome Project, has served as President of the Australian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 1992-94, and also as a Director of the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology from 1990- 93. Publications include approximately 270 scientific publications. She is a member of the editorial board of a number of major plant science journals.
 

Dr Richard Brettell

Dr Brettell completed his postgraduate study in 1978 at the University of Cambridge in the UK, undertaking research in maize tissue culture and plant pathology, and spent four years in Switzerland as a postdoctoral researcher in Basle (Friedrich Miescher Institute) and Lausanne (Institute of Plant Biology and Physiology). He joined CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra in 1982, specialising in crop genetics and the development of methods for the genetic transformation of cereals.
After three years in the Northern Territory where he led a CSIRO research group in tropical horticulture, Dr Bretell joined the Grains Research and Development Corporation in 2003 where he currently works as Program Manager.
 

Clinical Professor Fiona Wood, FRCS, FRACS, AM

Professor Wood is currently Director of the Western Australian Burns Service. She is the Chairman of the McComb Research Foundation, established in 1999 with scientist Marie Stoner. She is also co-founder and Director of Clinical Cell Culture (C3), a skin tissue engineering company, and Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board. In addition, she is a consultant plastic surgeon to Royal Perth and Princess Margaret Hospitals, Perth.
Professor Wood's research through the McComb Foundation involves several collaborative research projects focused on the multidisciplinary clinical and scientific team approach to the treatment of burn injury. The ultimate aim is scar-less healing to ensure the quality of the outcome is worth the pain of survival.
Professor Wood was named Western Australian of the Year for 2004, and was nominated as a National Living Treasure and Australian Citizen of the Year in 2005. In 2005 she received the honour of being named Australian of the Year, and elected as Member in the Order of Australia (AM).