Science communicators use their brains

2015 Unsung Hero of South Australian Science Robyn Flook and Science Communication award winner Dr Andy Stapleton.

From neuroscience to nanotechnology, it takes brains to get inside people’s heads – along with good communication skills.

Three quiet achievers at Flinders University this week were recognised for promoting their fields of science in the Unsung Heroes of South Australian Science and Science Communication awards which coincide with National Science Week.

Unsung Hero of SA Science winner Robyn Flook, who manages the SA Brain Bank and SA Neurological Tumour Bank, has devoted the past 26 years to coordinating neuroscience tissue banking at Flinders Medical Centre.

She has built up and curated one of the latest brain banks in Australia, and her expertise in the technical aspects of neurological tissue preparation and the legal, governance and ethical dimensions of tissue banking is sought at a state, national and international level.

Over the years, she has shared her expertise in “brain banking” with peer-reviewed conference presentations and publications and been active in raising awareness about neuroscience.

“It’s been an honour to be recognised in these awards,” she said, acknowledging the contribution of Brain Bank SA founders Emeritus Professors Bill Blessing and Peter Blumbergs and current co-director Associate Professor Mark Slee.

“It’s been an exciting career and one that never gets boring as technology and processes rapidly change,” Ms Flook says.

“These donor tissue banked over the past 30 years are still giving new insights into the diseases and disease process and will be of benefit well into the future.”

“The latest in technology, proteomics, genomics, genetics, molecular and new research can be applied to the tissue stored in the brain bank.

“This can give new insights into neurodegenerative processes such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia and other conditions which pose a big problem to our health systems as our populations age.”

Flinders nanotechnology researcher Dr Andrew Stapleton won the Unsung Hero of SA Science Communication. He is involved in many forms of mentoring and science communication, including running innovative workshops in schools which merge science with music.

Associate Professor James Stangoulis, leader of Flinders University’s Plant Nutrition Group, was a finalist for the Unsung Hero of Science award, as was Dr Lindsey Collins-Praino, Head of the Neurodegenerative Disease Group at the University of Adelaide.




Source: Science communicators use their brains

Via: Google Alert for Neuroscience

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