Researcher addresses prestigious symposium

QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute scientist, Dr Michelle Wykes, has been selected as a 2015 Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

A molecular immunologist, Dr Wykes was invited to present at the 2015 Indonesian-American Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium held in Indonesia from 28-31 July.

Dr Wykes’s major research area is centred on understanding the immunology of malaria, and she spoke on the topic ‘Infectious Disease: Biocontrol’.

This year was the first time Australian researchers were invited to attend the symposium, which was jointly sponsored by the US National Academy of Sciences and The Kavli Foundation and was supported by the Australian Academy of Science.

Dr Wykes said the symposia are highly interdisciplinary with emphasis on communication of a wide range of contemporary science topics across the traditional disciplines.

“It was a great honour to be invited to such a highly-regarded event and so exciting to hear from cutting-edge researchers in such diverse fields,” Dr Wykes said.

The symposium included 70 young scientists from the US, Indonesia and Australia, and also discussed nanomaterials, archaeology, astrophysics, health informatics and marine microbiology.

Since the inception of the symposium series in 1989, more than 130 of its alumni have been elected to the US National Academy of Sciences, and 10 have received Nobel Prizes.