David James

University of Sydney
ASBMB Lemberg Medal

Professor David James is an internationally recognised leader in metabolic biology and is an ARC Laureate Fellow at the Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney. His research has transformed understanding of insulin action, glucose transport, and the molecular basis of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. As a postdoctoral researcher, he discovered the insulin-responsive glucose transporter GLUT4, a landmark breakthrough in diabetes research. His work now integrates proteomics, systems genetics, and multi-omic approaches to investigate cardiometabolic disease, fatty liver disease, and healthy ageing. Professor James has published extensively in leading journals and is one of Australia’s most highly cited biomedical scientists. His contributions have been recognised through election as Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Morten Thaysen-Andersen

Macquarie University
ASBMB Shimadzu Research Medal

Prof Morten Andersen earned a PhD in Glycobiology in 2009 from Univ Southern Denmark and thereafter relocated to Australia. Enabled by multiple fellowships, he established the Analytical Glycoimmunology lab at Macquarie University where he is a tenured ARC Future Fellow. He is also Visiting Professor at the Institute for Glyco-Core Research (Nagoya University, Japan) heading a satellite lab in clinical glycoproteomics. The Andersen laboratories develop MS-based glycoproteome profiling methods, which opens new avenues to decode the functional roles of glycosylation in biological processes. His research program focuses on the innate immune system and immune disorders including inflammation (sepsis) and cancer.

Renee Marchin Prokopavicius

Western Sydney University
ASPS Peter Goldacre Award

Renée Marchin Prokopavicius is a plant ecophysiologist who studies the effects of warming, drought, and heatwaves on terrestrial ecosystems. She obtained her PhD in 2013 and has published 26 peer-reviewed journal articles, with a field-weighted citation impact from 2020-2025 of 3.7 (i.e., research cited 3.7 times more than global average). Her research aims to determine which species succeed in changing environments by measuring plant functional traits related to physiology, growth, and survival. She has documented some surprising physiological responses of plant leaves to high temperatures and helped guide species selection for restoration and urban greening projects in Australia.

Vanessa Melino

Dr Melino is a Lecturer in Plant Science at the University of Newcastle (Australia), where she leads the NextGen Adaptive Crops Lab. Her research investigates how plants tolerate extreme salinity and translates these mechanisms into climate-resilient agricultural systems. Dr Melino led international efforts to domesticate the halophyte Salicornia for seawater-based agriculture, developing global germplasm collections and genomic and transcriptomic resources. She is a recent recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Award, examining the role of RNA-binding proteins in protecting protein translation under salt stress.

Qi Shen

Peking University
Annals of Botany

Dr. Qi Shen is a postdoctoral researcher in ecosystem ecology at Peking University. She received her PhD in plant ecophysiology from the University of Western Australia in 2023. Her research explores phosphorus-acquisition and -utilisation strategies of plants across diverse biomes, spanning native Australian flora to forest ecosystems. In recognition of her contributions to plant nutrition research, she received the 2022 Marschner Young Scientist Award from the International Plant Nutrition Council. Her work aims to advance understanding of nutrient cycling, belowground ecological processes, and plant coexistence under global environmental change.

Barry Pogson

Australian National University
JG Wood Award

Barry Pogson is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), an ARC Laureate Fellow, Executive Chair of the Australian Research Council Centre for Future Crops. He also leads the Australian National University node of Plant SynBio Australia which aims to deliver step change synbio and gene editing solutions. Barry is a six times ISI Highly cited fellow and a recipient of ASPS’s Peter Goldacre Medal, Australian Eureka Prize, Australian Academy of Science Fenner Medal and is a corresponding fellow of the the American Society of Plant Biology. Pogson’s academic career includes a PhD at Macquarie University and CSIRO, postdoctoral fellow at Univ. of Arizona, U Nevada and an Asst. Professor at Arizona State University, prior to joining ANU in 2000. Barry’s career foci are mentoring the next generation in new breeding technologies for improving crop yield and resilience in response to changing climates. His lab is focused on developing crops that are tuneable in response to changing environments by harnessing translational control and cellular communication. A particular focus is how the site of photosynthesis, the chloroplast, functions as an environmental sensor for managing plant responses to drought, temperature and light stress.

Claudia Keitel

University of Sydney
ASPS Education Award

A/Prof. Claudia Keitel completed her PhD at the University of Freiburg in 2004. She undertook postdoctoral research at the Australian National University, tracing water and carbon flows in plants using stable isotopes, before continuing at UNSW and the University of Sydney, where she examined how Australian Eucalyptus species function under water‑limited conditions. Since 2011, she has been based at the University of Sydney. Her most recent research focuses on Australian native grains, which have significant potential to enhance nutrition, remediate degraded landscapes and foster care for Country. This research has informed an immersive first‑year biology teaching experience which integrates plant science, agricultural science, and Indigenous knowledge systems.

Matthew Clemson

University of Sydney
ASBMB SDR Scientific Education Award

Dr Matthew Clemson is a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Sydney, where he leads biochemistry teaching teams supporting over 1,200 students annually. A national and international voice on generative AI in assessment, his scholarship sits at the intersection of assessment design, motivational theory, and authentic learning, grounded in evidence from his own teaching. He developed Dr MattTabolism, an AI Socratic tutor, co-developed interactive laboratory simulations, and played a key role in implementation of the Sydney Assessment Framework. In 2026 he received the ASBMB Scientific Education Award, recognising his sustained and innovative contribution to biochemistry education.

Kathryn Jones

University of Auckland
NZBMB Education Award

Dr Kathryn Jones is the Assistant Dean Academic in the Faculty of Science, University of Auckland and an education-focused academic in the School of Biological Sciences. She teaches large molecular biology and biochemistry courses within BSc Biological and Biomedical Science majors. Kathryn’s scholarship focuses on developing students’ metacognition and self regulated learning and working on how creativity can be intentionally taught and assessed in programmes, using authentic problems and reflective activities to support curiosity, ideation, and evaluative judgement. Kathryn’s goal is to build evidence informed curriculum and assessment innovations that enhance student outcomes and develop curious, creative, life-long learners.

Pamali Fonseka

La Trobe University
ASBMB Eppendorf Edman ECR Award

Pamali Fonseka completed her PhD in Biochemistry at La Trobe University in 2018 and is now an emerging leader in extracellular vesicle (EV) biology and translational cancer research. After postdoctoral training with Professor Suresh Mathivanan, she was appointed Group Leader in 2024 and now serves as Deputy Director of the Research Centre for Extracellular Vesicles. With under six years post PhD (including 13.5 months of career disruptions), she has secured over $875,000 in competitive funding and published 35 papers (H index 21; >7,805 citations). Her research focuses on EV mediated therapeutic strategies for metastatic cancer, alongside a strong commitment to mentoring the next generation of scientists.

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