Professor Ruth Hall awarded Academy of Science 2012 Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture
11 May 2012
Professor Ruth Hall has been awarded the 2012 Academy of Science Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture for research in the biological sciences. The Medal and Lecture recognises scientific research of the highest standing in the biological sciences. It commemorates the contributions to science by Sir Macfarlane Burnet, OM, KBE, MD, FAA, FRS, Nobel Laureate. The award is nominated by Academy Fellows only, who recognised Ruth for her outstanding contribution to the area of biological sciences.
The Academy congratulated Ruth for her substantial and highly influential contribution to their understanding of how antibiotic resistance genes are acquired by gram negative bacteria. This contribution is so important because antibiotic resistance develops by resistance genes coming into a pathogen from elsewhere. Ruth also discovered and characterised experimentally one of the central mechanisms of gene movement found in bacteria and is continuing to work on novel antibiotic transfer systems. More broadly, her work has made a seminal contribution to the scientific community's understanding of how genes of all types are mobilised by bacteria and hence how bacterial genomes evolve.
Read more about the Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture here.
A video of Ruth's lecture is available here.
You can listen to the audio of the lecture here.
Congratulations Ruth!