Dr Bill Liapis and team named finalists in SA’s prestigious science awards

·


The finalists for South Australia’s Science Excellence and Innovation Awards have been announced and Greek Australian Dr Vasilios (Bill) Liapis is on the list.

Dr Liapis has been named a finalist in the ‘2023 Innovator or Innovation Team of the Year’ category as part of the ‘RAH Immuno-Targeted Cancer Therapies’ team.  

Other colleagues in the team include Professor Michael Brown, Associate Professor Lisa Ebert, Dr Tessa Gargett, and Dr Alex Staudacher.

According to the awards website, the ‘RAH Immuno-Targeted Cancer Therapies’ project is led by Professor Brown. The team has designed, advanced and translated world-first new therapies for brain and pancreatic cancers. These are diseases for which current treatment options are extremely limited.

Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels.

As a result of the team’s focused work over 12 years, new candidate cancer treatments have now progressed to four early-phase clinical trials in patients with solid cancers, including pancreatic and brain cancers.

The RAH Immuno-Targeted Cancer Therapies team developed an innovation known as APOMAB-MTR to deliver radiation directly to cancer cells through antibodies, and genetically engineered cells called CAR-T cells that target cancers through a molecule known as GD2.

Commercialisation and clinical expansion for these innovations are now underway or being explored.

The annual Science Excellence and Innovation Awards recognise the state’s highest-achieving teachers, PhD students, innovators and scientific researchers.

Category winners will be announced at a celebratory dinner in November.

Thanks to the generosity of award sponsors, winners will receive a cash prize to further their career development – $25,000 each for the SA Scientist of the Year and SA Innovator of the Year, and $10,000 for winners of all other categories.

For more information on each finalist, and to learn more about the SA Science Excellence and Innovation Awards program, visit scienceawards.sa.gov.au.

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

By subscribing you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

Latest News

Kostas Sloukas praises Greek Australian fans as Panathinaikos arrive in Sydney

Panathinaikos BC touched down in Sydney this week for the second leg of the 7th Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament.

From family legacy to the Federal Court: A look into Justice Anastasis Liveris’ legal career

In an exclusive interview with The Greek Herald, the Greek Australian judge reflected on how he felt to achieve this major career milestone.

The Greek influence on Australian television

Among the many communities that helped shape TV culture were Greeks, whose presence both on and off screen left a lasting mark.

Critically endangered monk seal welcomes newborn on Karpathos island

The first Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) birth of 2025 has been confirmed on the island of Karpathos.

Campaigners celebrate as Milos luxury hotel project is halted

Environmental activists have welcomed the suspension of a controversial five-star hotel project on Milos’s world-famous “moon beach”.

You May Also Like

Greek island: Spinalonga will upgrade infrastructure to protect the island

Infrastructure for power and water supply and a biological waste treatment will be built on the Greek Island of Spinalonga.

Three Greek islands named among Europe’s most endangered sites

Three Greek islands of Cyclades – Sifnos, Serifos, and Folegandros, have been named among Europe’s seven most endangered heritage sites.

Spyros Louis becomes the unlikely hero of the 1896 Olympic Games

In 1896, Spyros Louis wins the first marathon race of the inaugural revival of the Olympic Games in Athens.