In fine company

Two UNSW PhD students, Wee Siang Teo and Jan Gralton, will join 25 Nobel Laureates and 550 of the world's best young medical researchers for the 61th Nobel Laureate meeting in Germany. They were selected from more than 20,000 applicants.

Wee Siang Teo is currently pursuing a PhD in Medicine with the assistance of an Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. He recently completed a Bachelor of Advanced Science at UNSW and was awarded the University Medal in Molecular Biology.

"I'm incredibly excited to have this once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet some of the greatest minds in the world and interact with some of the best young scientists from different fields of medical research," Wee said.

Third-year PhD candidate Jan Gralton's research looks at the different ways respiratory viruses infect people and the effectiveness of the methods we use to control such transmission. She has authored publications and technical reports and has received local and international awards for her research.

Wee's research focuses on discovering the mechanism of action of a gene involved in breast cancer metastasis.

"The majority of deaths from breast cancer are caused by metastasis, a complex process that is thought to be mediated by a set of metastasis genes. The gene Id1 has been shown to play an important role in metastasis, however the mechanism is unclear," said Wee.

"While it's impractical to list winning the Nobel Prize as a realistic goal, it'll certainly give me an insight into the amount of hard work and dedication that goes into a successful research career."

Media contact: Leilah Schubert | UNSW Media Office | 02 93853107