Top immune cell researcher takes Eureka Prize & Woodward Medal

Congratulations to Associate Professor Laura Mackay in the School of Biomedical Sciences, who has won the 2019 Macquarie University Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher and the 2019 Woodward Medal in Science and Technology for her contribution to immunological memory research.

Considered a leader in this area of research, Associate Professor Mackay is hoping to make cancer immunotherapy more effective.

Receiving the Eureka Prize in August has given the early career researcher further recognition for her work in discovering a novel population of immune cells, tissue-resident T cells, which are critical for protecting the immune system against infection and cancer.

These cells will be vital for the development of new immunotherapies to fight disease.

“I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to have won a Eureka prize. I am so grateful to the Australian Museum for celebrating Australian science. It’s such a privilege to be a part of it.” Associate Professor Mackay says.

Associate Professor Mackay also received the University of Melbourne’s 2019 Woodward Medal in Science and Technology for her research publications on how memory T cells in tissue enhance local immune responses.

Currently Laboratory Head at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Department of Microbiology and Immunology (DMI), Associate Professor Mackay is a STEM role model and received the Gottschalk Medal in 2019 from the Australian Academy of Science for her outstanding contribution to science.

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