Nobel intent of curious minds

FIFTEEN young Australian scientists have been invited to this year’s Nobel laureate meeting, but there’s no time for awe.

Sonia Henriques is one of 15 young Australian scientists to attend the Lindau meeting of Nobel winners. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

WHAT does a young scientist do when thrust into a room with 38 Nobel laureates swanning about with champagne flutes? For 28 year-old Nady Braidy, his plan is to buttonhole them as potential collaborators.

The University of NSW neurologist is one of just 15 Australian young scientists to be selected by the Academy of Science to attend this year’s Nobel Laureate meeting in Lindau, Germany, where about 600 young scientists from around the world will get to rub shoulders with their idols.

But while Dr Braidy says he is “honoured and flabbergasted” to be selected, he is far from awed and already planning to put his best foot forward. Not surprisingly for a neurologist, he is most interested in what makes Nobel laureates tick. “I want to ask them what it takes to win this award, learn about their commitment and how they manage their family life.”

Dr Braidy is a National Health and Medical Research Council early career postdoctoral fellow. His work is focused on creating treatments for ageing disorders by identifying energy molecules in cells that could be manipulated to slow age-related deterioration.

University of Queensland molecular bioscientist Sonia Henriques, 33, is another of the select crop of young scientists going to Lindau, where she hopes to meet 2005 Australian Nobel laureate Barry Marshall, whose work has led to her own. She is working to develop antibiotics aimed at tackling the Helicobacter Pylori bacteria that cause stomach ulcers.

It was Professor Marshall, with colleague Robin Warren, whose work overturned the then medical dogma to show gastritis was caused by bacteria.

Now, amid growing resistance to antibiotics, Dr Henriques and her colleagues at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience have developed a way to use peptide molecules to potentially fight infection when previously such molecules were too large to avoid being broken down by the body.

Professor Marshall was prepared to take risks in his research, and it is a lesson Dr Henriques has taken to heart. “As scientists we need to be very creative, we can’t be conventional. We need to put our ideas out there and not be afraid to explore them,” she says.

It’s that freedom to explore that attracted her to science and, apart from sometimes having to concede to reality, she says the profession has delivered.

Dr Henriques is also keen to meet US physiologist Brian Kob­ilka and French chemist Jean-Marie Lehn. And what does she see as the most powerful legacy of being a Nobel Laureate? “The freedom to put up ideas without being criticised.” But, asked if fear of criticism had held her back, Dr Henriques laughs. “Not really.”

It may well be the meeting proves more challenging for the laureates than the young scientists seeking to emulate them.