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News archive
Prime Minister's Prize for 2012 Victoria Prize recipient

The recipient of a 2012 Victoria Prize for Science & Innovation, Emeritus Professor Terry Speed, has been awarded the 2013 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for his contribution to making sense of genomics and related technologies.
Professor Speed is the head of Bioinformatics at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and says he doesn’t expect to see headlines reading “Statistician cures cancer” any time soon. But he knows that the right mathematics and statistics can help researchers understand the underlying causes of cancer and reduce the need for surgery.
A mathematician and statistician, he has written elegant theoretical papers that almost no-one reads. But he has also testified in court, helped farmers and diamond miners, and given biologists statistical tools to help them cope with the genetic revolution.
Twenty years ago biologists looked at one or two genes in isolation. Today they can track thousands of genes in a single cell, but to understand the results they need tools of the kind that Terry develops.
At 70, he is focusing on techniques to sort out the thousands of differences between normal and cancer cells, moving closer to the clinic with ideas to treat cancer more efficiently, and working with industry to create a tool to determine if your thyroid growth is benign or not.
veski fellows in the news
14 Jun 2019 | Mercy Hospital for Women
Assoc Prof Natalie Hannan - recognised with two prestigious awards
14 Feb 2019 | Nine Digital Pty Ltd
Prof Michael Cowley launches new weight loss pill in Australia
“Understanding ‘friendly microbes’ may well hold the key to preventing allergic diseases including asthma.”
Professor Benjamin Marsland
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