‘Beating Buruli’ team named 2024 Australian Museum Eureka Prize finalists

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The Australian Museum has announced 55 finalists selected for Australia’s leading science awards, the 2024 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes. The Eureka Prizes celebrate excellence in scientific research and innovation.

The Beating Buruli Team has been recognised for their outstanding research by being selected as one of the finalists in the Prestigious Australian Museum Eureka Prizes. This achievement celebrates and acknowledges the team’s significant contributions and dedication to solving the 80-year-long mystery surrounding the tropic skin disease Buruli ulcer.

Selection in this prestigious award is recognition of the team’s outstanding infectious disease research that benefits our public health overall. The Australia Museum has described their contribution as “The Beating Buruli Team’s extensive fieldwork and use of advanced genomic methods have opened the door to effective public health interventions and disease control.”

Back row: Dr Peter Mee, Nicholas Bell, Prof Tim Stinear, Prof Paul Johnson, Jessica Porter Front row: Dr Veronique Paris, Dr Kim Blasdell, Dr Ee Laine Tay, Dr Emma Hobbs, Dr Katherine Gibney, Dr Andrew Buultjens Not pictured: Prof Ary Hoffmann, Dr Sara Windecker, Caroline Lavender, Maria Globan, Prof Nick Golding, Prof John Wallace, Dr Arvind Yerramilli, Dr Koen Vandelannoote, Dr Stacey Lynch-Allen, Dr Jane Oliver. Image credit: Rahul Ratwatte (Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity)

Led by Professor Tim Stinear at Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, the University of Melbourne, this collaborative research project has been working since 2018 to get to the bottom of the mystery of the Buruli ulcer. Together, using extensive fieldwork, advanced genomic analyses and computer science, the team have been able to show that mosquitoes transmit the ulcer-causing bacteria Mycobacterium ulcerans from the environment to people.

Phenomics Australia has been supporting researchers to accomplish groundbreaking discovery and innovation. Phenomics Australia Histopathology and Digital Slide Service has been working with Prof. Stinear and members of the Beating Buruli Team for a number of years on various histopathology and tissue scoring projects. Our service was able to develop a customised scoring matrix to evaluate inflammatory cell infiltration, tissue damage, fibrosis and pathogen identification. This matrix was used to study the immunological and clinical response to the Mycobacterium ulcerans infection in mice and assisted the team’s understanding of this mysterious infectious disease.

By Bridget Elliott-Rudder.

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