Metabolism – it’s how the food we eat gets turned into energy, and surprisingly it’s a lot like a train network. Your metabolism is a series of interconnected chemical reactions that have a beginning and a destination. At each “stop”, a reaction is carried out by an enzyme, the chemical catalysts of the body, to allow the process to keep moving along the path. But much like a train network, it doesn’t always run.

Plants have been used as traditional medicines around the world for centuries – even millennia. With the technology we have now, Dr Tien Huynh can uncover the science behind how they work. Drawing on her Vietnamese heritage, she is particularly interested in plants from tropical Asia – including the gấc fruit (Momordica cochinchinensis).

Every year, final year PhD candidates present their doctoral studies to the Royal Society of Victoria, competing for four Prizes that recognise excellence in Victoria’s early career scientists. Eight finalists presented under four categories: Biological Sciences, Biomedical & Health Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Physical Sciences.

Every year, final year PhD candidates present their doctoral studies to the Royal Society of Victoria, competing for prizes recognising excellence in Victoria’s young researchers. Eight finalists present under the four categories: Biological Sciences, Biomedical & Health Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Physical Sciences. This year our finalists were selected from a highly competitive field of 63 applicants.

With deep expertise in environmental microbiology and biotechnology, Professor Andrew Ball’s research focuses on developing clean, sustainable technologies to remediate environmental contamination, looking for ways of removing contaminants – particularly petroleum hydro-carbons (oil), but also other organic pollutants – from soils, groundwater and water bodies.