Two members of the Australian Academy of Science Fellowship have been elected to the prestigious Royal Society in the UK.
Academy Fellow Professor Peter Colman FAA FRS FTSE joins 50 other eminent scientists and researchers elected to the Royal Society this year, walking in the footsteps of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
Professor Colman is a structural biologist who has worked on the structure and function of proteins, as well as cell death. He has done groundbreaking work on the influenza virus and helped discover Zanamivir (Relenza), the first drug of its kind developed for the treatment and prevention of influenza. He is currently the head of the structural biology division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
The Royal Society has more than 1,450 Fellows and Foreign Members, including around 80 Nobel Laureates. Fellows are elected for life through a peer review process.
Professor Chunli Bai, one of the Academy’s Corresponding Members, was also elected as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. Each year up to 10 new Foreign Members are elected by existing Fellows. Professor Bai is also the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at the Institute of Chemistry, Beijing.
Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said: ‘Building scientific knowledge helps us face some of the planet’s biggest challenges… These scientists who have been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society have already contributed much to the scientific endeavour, whether that is in academia, industry or government.’
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