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Neuroscience

COVID-19 and the Class of 2020: A future scientist on what students really think of school – WTOP

In the third installment of Kate Ryan's series, Amadu Bah says looking toward the future keeps him motivated, even though the COVID-19 pandemic is making senior-itis worse.

The third in a series by WTOPs Kate Ryanon local high school seniors and how theyre coping with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the end of their school careers.

Student: Amadu Bah, 18School: Watkins Mill High School, Gaithersburg, MarylandFuture: Hope College, Holland, MichiganIntended major: Pre-MedCareer goals: Neuroscience/clinical psychology

Amadu Bah says something adults dont normally hear from high school students: You know, as high school students we complain about going to school every day, and we talk about how we dislike it. In reality, theres nothing like that in-person experience.

Some seniors whove spent the last quarter of their senior year in quarantine talk about feeling cheated of the rituals around graduation, and Bah says he feels some of that.

Hed envisioned the days around graduation as a way to acknowledge the relationships that make high school so special. To share good times, to say your formal goodbyes to not only your peers, but also the staff thats helped you throughout the four years.

Instead, he wakes up to emails from friends and teachers. And its emotional.

Hes not the only one whos disappointed: Bah said his parents were looking forward to watching their oldest son get his diploma. Unfortunately, thats not going to happen.

COVID-19 and the Class of 2020

Bah, 18, took advantage of College Tracks, a program available in a number of Montgomery County schools that helps students navigate the college application process.

He described the staff as supportive and persistent, helping search for financial aid and polishing application essays. Ive gotta give a shoutout to the people at College Tracks Miss Rula, Miss Bridgette, Miss Rahel and all of the wonderful staff that have helped me and my peers out, for sure.

Bah said it wasnt always easy to maintain focus attend classes during classes in cyberspace. I dont know if its because Im a senior and, you know, the whole senior-itis thing that goes around, but definitely the drive and the will to do work has decreased.

His future plans keep him motivated, though: He plans to attend Hope College, in Holland, Michigan, where he wants to get on the pre-med track. Hed like a career in neuroscience.

At Watkins Mill, he helped create a Wellness Club, which has proven timely given the anxiety and questions around the coronavirus pandemic. Bah said the focus was on mental health as well as encouraging safe practices to prevent the spread of the virus.

Bah said Hope College has advised that classes will be held on campus, but that the dining halls will be closed; students will have to take their meals in their rooms, and non-essential activities such as clubs will be suspended depending on the course of the virus.

Asked what he would tell other graduating seniors eager to see some sort of return to normalcy and to get back together with friends before heading off to college, Bah said, Just be patient hold on tight so we can end this quicker. Dont be selfish and think about yourself. Think about the collective American people.

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COVID-19 and the Class of 2020: A future scientist on what students really think of school - WTOP

Neuroscience

Study in Chinese Doctors Shows Mental Toll of Caring in the Time of COVID-19 – Michigan Medicine

They worked in hospitals hundreds of miles from the epicenter of COVID-19. Their city of 24 million people locked down hard enough, and did enough testing, that it only had a few hundred cases of the disease.

But hundreds of young Chinese doctors in a new study still experienced a sharp drop in mood, a rise in depression and anxiety symptoms, and a doubling of their fear of workplace violence, in just the first month of the coronavirus pandemic.

The new findings, published in JAMA Network Open by an American and Chinese team, show in stark terms the potential mental toll of being a frontline healthcare worker in the time of COVID-19.

The rise in symptoms among 385 first year medical residents in Shanghai contrasts with data from members of the previous years crop of residents who took part in the same study from 2018 to 2019.

Where this years class saw sharp change across most measures of mental health and workplace violence during the first half of the training year, last years class had stable scores at the same point in their training. Other research in Chinese and American residents has shown that the strain of first year medical training is linked to a sharp rise in depressive symptoms over pre-residency scores.

SEE ALSO: Keeping Our Patients Safe During COVID-19

Even before this pandemic, the levels of depression and anxiety symptoms among our healthcare workers were high and our findings indicate that they are getting worse, says Srijan Sen, M.D., Ph.D., the University of Michigan psychiatrist and neuroscientist who leads the Intern Health Study that yielded the data. As it is clear that this pandemic will be with us for the foreseeable future, we need to prioritize the well-being of our healthcare workers, not only for themselves, but also for the patients that will need them in the coming months and year.

Sen worked with colleagues from U-Ms Michigan Neuroscience Institute, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, to gather and analyze the data.

Weidong Li, M.D., Ph.D., co-first and co-corresponding author of the new paper and a professor at SJTU, notes that typically, late winter is a time of elevated moods in China, due to the Lunar New Year celebration.

Our findings indicate that the negative mental health effects of COVID-19 are not limited to physicians working at the center of the initial outbreak in Wuhan, but extend to other places like Shanghai, which is 500 miles away, he says. With the numerous new cases spread worldwide, this has important implications for the way communities around the globe respond to this growing public health crisis. Li is the deputy director of the Brain Science and Technology Research Center, and vice dean of the Bio-X Institutes, at SJTU.

SEE ALSO: Who Gets Depressed Under Intense Stress? Genetic Risk Prediction Shows Promise

Elena Frank, Ph.D., director of the Intern Health Study, notes that the data provide a strong reminder about the impacts of infectious disease outbreaks on both the physical and psychological health of healthcare workers. Its easy to forget that they face many of the same additional stresses as the rest of us concerns about elderly or at-risk family, loss of childcare while simultaneously managing an increased clinical workload, and all while placing themselves and their families at greater risk of infection, she says. The potential mental health consequences of confronting such enormous pressures cannot be overlooked.

Unwitting sentinels of a pandemics effects

When the 385 doctors in the study volunteered for the research project last summer, they were about to begin the same intense, sometimes grueling training experience that marks the start of a medical career in many countries.

A few weeks ago, data from earlier cohorts of residents was published as a preprint a report that has not undergone peer review by Sen and Lis colleagues. It shows a similar rise in depression symptoms happened in 7,000 first-year residents (also called interns) at more than 100 U.S. hospitals, and 1,000 Chinese first-year residents at 16 Shanghai and Beijing hospitals across three years of the study.

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Study in Chinese Doctors Shows Mental Toll of Caring in the Time of COVID-19 - Michigan Medicine

Immunology

CSL Behring and Seattle Children’s Research Institute to Advance Gene Therapy Treatments for Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases – P&T Community

SEATTLE and KING of PRUSSIA, Pa., June 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Seattle Children's Research Institute, one of the top pediatric research institutions in the world, and global biotechnology leader CSL Behring announced a strategic alliance to develop stem cell gene therapies for primary immunodeficiency diseases.

Initially, the alliance will focus on the development of treatment options for patients with two rare, life-threatening primary immunodeficiency diseases -- Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome and X-linked Agammaglobulinemia. These are two of more than 400 identified primary immunodeficiency diseases in which a part of the body's immune system is missing or functions improperly.

"CSL Behring will collaborate with Seattle Children's experts to apply our novel gene therapy technology to their research pipeline, with an aim to address unmet needs for people living with certain rare primary immunodeficiency diseases," said Bill Mezzanotte, MD, Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development for CSL Behring. "Expanding our gene therapy portfolio into an area of immunology well known to CSL exemplifies how we are strategically growing our capabilities in this strategic scientific platform and are collaborating with world class institutions to access innovation with the potential to vastly improve patients' lives."

"Stem cell gene therapies that correct the genetic abnormality driving a child's disease will transform the therapeutic options for children with Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia and other immunodeficiency diseases,"said David J. Rawlings, MD, director of the Center for Immunity and Immunotherapies and division chief of immunology at Seattle Children's, and a professor of pediatrics and immunology at the University of Washington School of Medicine."The collaboration with CSL Behring supports our longstanding research programs for pediatric immunodeficiency diseases and will accelerate this research toward clinical trials, helping get these innovations to the children who need them."

CSL Behring researchers, working with researchers from Seattle Children's Research Institute, will investigate applying the proprietary platform technologies, Select+ and Cytegrity, to several pre-clinical gene therapy programs. These technologies, which have broad applications in ex vivo stem cell gene therapy, are designed to address some of the major challenges associated with the commercialization of stem cell therapy, including the ability to manufacture consistent, high-quality products, and to improve engraftment, efficacy and tolerability.

Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS) has an estimated incidence between one and 10 cases per million males worldwide, according to the National Institutes of Health. WAS patients' immune systems function abnormally, making them susceptible to infections. They also experience eczema, autoimmunity and difficulty forming blood clots, leaving them vulnerable to life threatening bleeding complications. Today the only knowncurefor WAS is a stem cell transplant, if a suitable donor can be found.

X-linked Agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is another rare primary immunodeficiency in which patients have low levels of immunoglobulins (also known as antibodies), which are key proteins made by the immune system to help fight infections. Like WAS, XLA affects males almost exclusively, although females can be genetic carriers of the condition. While no cure exists for XLA, the goal of treatment is to boost the immune system by replacing missing antibodies and preventing or aggressively treating infections that occur, according to the Immune Deficiency Foundation.

About Seattle Children's

Seattle Children's mission is to provide hope, care and cures to help every child live the healthiest and most fulfilling life possible. Together, Seattle Children's Hospital, Research Institute and Foundation deliver superior patient care, identify new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research, and raise funds to create better futures for patients.

Ranked as one of the top children's hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Children's serves as the pediatric and adolescent academic medical center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho the largest region of any children's hospital in the country. As one of the nation's top five pediatric research centers, Seattle Children's Research Institute is internationally recognized for its work in neurosciences, immunology, cancer, infectious disease, injury prevention and much more. Seattle Children's Hospital and Research Foundation works with the Seattle Children's Guild Association, the largest all-volunteer fundraising network for any hospital in the country, to gather community support and raise funds for uncompensated care and research. Join Seattle Children's bold initiative It Starts With Yes: The Campaign for Seattle Children's to transform children's health for generations to come.

For more information, visit seattlechildrens.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or on our On the Pulse blog.

About CSL Behring

CSL Behring is a global biotherapeutics leader driven by its promise to save lives. Focused on serving patients' needs by using the latest technologies, we develop and deliver innovative therapies that are used to treat coagulation disorders, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary angioedema, inherited respiratory disease, and neurological disorders. The company's products are also used in cardiac surgery, burn treatment and to prevent hemolytic disease of the newborn. CSL Behring operates one of the world's largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. The parent company, CSL Limited (ASX:CSL;USOTC:CSLLY), headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, employs more than 26,000 people, and delivers its life-saving therapies to people in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit http://www.cslbehring.com and for inspiring stories about the promise of biotechnology, visit Vita http://www.cslbehring.com/Vita.

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CSL Behring and Seattle Children's Research Institute to Advance Gene Therapy Treatments for Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases - P&T Community

Immunology

Dr. Princess U. Ogbogu named chief of Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology at UH Rainbow – Crain’s Cleveland Business

Dr. Princess U. Ogbogu was named chief of the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, effective Aug. 1, according to a news release.

Ogbogu joins UH from Ohio State University, where she served as the director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology and as an associate professor of medicine since 2016. She has held various other leadership roles there and at Nationwide Children's Hospital since she was recruited to OSU in 2008.

"Dr. Ogbogu is a highly regarded physician and researcher, one of the nation's top experts in the field of allergy and immunology, with medical education roots in Cleveland," said Dr. Marlene R. Miller, pediatrician-in-chief at UH and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, in a provided statement. "We are excited to bring her leadership and expertise to our patients and families in Northeast Ohio and beyond."

Ogbogu is the principal investigator for ongoing IRB-approved studies on the topic of hypereosinophilic syndromes, asthma and COVID-19, according to the release. An active researcher, she has published in two scientific book chapters and dozens of peer reviewed articles.

Ogbogu earned her MD from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at CWRU, as well as a fellowship in allergy and immunology at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, according to the news release. She is currently a member of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology Board of Directors, serving a term from January 2019 through the end of 2021. She is also a member in a number of several American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) national committees, according to the release.

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Dr. Princess U. Ogbogu named chief of Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology at UH Rainbow - Crain's Cleveland Business

Immunology

Dr. Amir Bajoghli’s Article on Shiitake Mushroom Dermatitis Featured in Premier Immunology Publication – IT Business Net

MCLEAN, VA / ACCESSWIRE / May 29, 2020 / The shiitake is an edible mushroom native to East Asia. The popularity of these mushrooms has increased over the years in the United States and with it has been a rise in allergic skin reactions to this relatively new ingredient on the American culinary landscape.

Shiitake flagellate dermatitis, also known as toxicoderma, is an allergic reaction related to the ingestion of raw or undercooked shiitake mushrooms. Signs of this dermatologic condition include skin eruptions resembling scratch or whiplash marks. This skin reaction occurs in approximately 2-3% of people who eat undercooked or raw shiitake mushrooms.

Various theories exist as to how and why this type reaction occurs with some people who eat the undercooked forms of the edible fungus.

When Dr. Amir Bajoghli of Skin & Laser Dermatology Center recently treated such a case in his practice, he realized it was of importance to share his medical findings regarding the patient with the scientific community. He wrote up the details of this Shiitake mushroom dermatitis. These findings were published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the premier publication for allergic and immunologic diseases.

Dr. Bajoghli is honored to publish the case with his father, Dr. Mehdi Bajoghli, a practicing allergist in Northern Virginia.

Dr. Amir Bajoghli has been active in the practice of dermatology and laser surgery since the completion of his training at the combined Tufts University and Boston University. He regularly presents lectures to other physicians regionally and internationally, and teaches medical students and dermatology residents at Georgetown University.

Dr. Amir Bajoghli can be reached at either of his Virginia offices:

McLean:1359 Beverly Rd., 2nd FloorMcLean, VA 22101(703) 893-1114

Woodbridge:2200 Opitz Blvd., Suite 100Woodbridge, VA 22191(703) 492-4140

SOURCE: Skin and Laser Dermatology Center

View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/591993/Dr-Amir-Bajoghlis-Article-on-Shiitake-Mushroom-Dermatitis-Featured-in-Premier-Immunology-Publication

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Dr. Amir Bajoghli's Article on Shiitake Mushroom Dermatitis Featured in Premier Immunology Publication - IT Business Net

Immunology

Why AbbVie Could Have the Most Upside Among Big Pharma Stocks – 24/7 Wall St.

Healthcare Business

Jon C. Ogg

Some mergers can add a nice shot in the arm for an acquirer. After years of being focused on Humira, AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) has now completed its acquisition of Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN), which brings existing sales and an additional product pipeline down the road.

Analysts on Wall Street in general have issued higher upside projections ahead of and in the wake of this mergers completion. While SVB Leerink may have the highest analyst target price on AbbVie of $122, the independent research firm Argus has issued one of the highest price targets that has been seen in some time.

24/7 Wall St.s top analyst calls of the day included that Argus raised its rating to Buy from Hold and offered a $115 price target. This target is handily higher than Refinitivs $97.00 consensus price target. While this is one of the most aggressive calls in the stock, it also would represent more upside than has been seen in the other major pharma and mega-cap biotechs.

The difference between an independent research firm like Argus and a traditional brokerage firm with underwriters is that Argus gets no investment banking fees from the companies. Investors should understand that AbbVies new Buy rating is a shorter term call. The firm was quick to point out that its long-term rating is Hold.

After completion of the merger with Allergan, Argus noted that the portfolio expansion includes a growing oncology franchise that is anchored by Imbruvica and Venclexta. It also noted Skyrizi and Rinvoq as two growth drivers in the immunology space. Allergan is said to add strengths in medical aesthetics, neuroscience, eye care and womens health.

One other issue to consider is that Allergan shares and its consensus price target are both still lower than when it was named among 20 undervalued ESG stocks. That call was right before the major sell-off turned into the instant recession under COVID-19.

Argus also sees AbbVie generating substantial cash flow that supports the dividend with its 5%-plus yield. The cash flow is also said to support developing, acquiring and collaborating on new product candidates for the future. The Argus report said this:

AbbVies merger with Allergan (completed in May) provides the combined company with an expanded portfolio of commercial products along with additional pipeline products that should help to drive future growth. Allergans portfolio is anchored by Botox, which has both aesthetics and therapeutic indications (such as migraine). In addition, two recently launched immunology drugs (Skyrizi and Rinvoq) are gaining traction and market share in their respective indications. These drugs, which are posting stronger sales than we had expected, complement Humira in autoimmune indications.

There are other blockbusters in the Allergan and AbbVie mix to consider here. The Argus report further said:

The company also has a growing oncology franchise, anchored by Imbruvica and Venclexta, both of which have become blockbuster products. Imbruvica and Venclexta together generated more than $5.2 billion in sales in 2019. Venclexta is growing sales at a more than 100% annual rate (reaching $317 million in Q1-2020), reflecting approval for additional indications. In addition to the strong product portfolio, we note that the stock carries a yield of about 5.1%, which we view as very attractive during a period of market volatility and economic uncertainty.

Tuesdays new analyst call is much stronger than most analysts give (in the 8% to 10% range) in new ratings for Dow Jones industrials or S&P 500 companies. The Argus call projects 26% upside, before even getting into the 5% dividend yield for total return investors.

AbbVie shares traded up 0.4% at $91.10 on Tuesday. Its 52-week range is $62.55 to $97.86.

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Immunology

Viola Ventures is Seeking Technologies that Combine AI and Fundamental Scientific Disciplines – CTech

Zvika Orron, a partner at Israeli early-stage venture capital firm Viola Ventures, is clearly a big believer in the potential of computational biology. So much so that he believes the AI disruption proven in traditional industries such as the automotive industry that led to the huge success story of Mobileye, which in 2017 was acquired by Intel for $15.3 billion in the largest deal Israel's tech industry has seen to date, could potentially repeat itself in the biology space.

One company hoping to one day be the next Mobileye is Israeli startup Immunai. Orron was part of the Viola and TLV Partners team that earlier this month led the companys $20 million seed round.

"The volume of data generated through modern biological research is growing exponentially and opening a great opportunity to leverage AI for providing deeper and more accurate insights to solve complex problems at a faster pace," said Orron.

Immunai was founded in January 2019 by Noam Solomon (CEO) and Luis Voloch (CTO) who were joined by Ansuman Satpathy, a professor of cancer immunology at Stanford University, Danny Wells, a current member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and Dan Littman, a professor of molecular immunology at New York University, all three of whom joined the team as founding scientists.

Immunai is developing a technological platform that aims to map the entire immune system for better detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, which according to Orron has the potential to disrupt the entire pharmaceutical ecosystem.

"Mobileye is an example of how AI technology, in this case, computer vision, can disrupt an entire industry. Mobileye could have just settled for providing computer vision services to camera companies or sold its computer vision as standalone software. But instead, it chose to develop an entire end-to-end system and disrupt the auto industry. Immunai also wants to cause disruption throughout the pharma industry with its AI solution by not only providing the immune system profiling but leveraging the data as a first step to pull out insights and provide a platform that will enable a range of applications. The companies are very similar to each other in that way," Orron told CTech earlier this week. "The second similarity is that both are trying to solve multi-disciplinary problems. Mobileye needs algorithm developers, hardware developers, as well as physicists, as it is trying to solve a very complex problem. And on top of that, you need someone to bring this all together with quality system engineering and make sure it works. If there is one thing that Israel is blessed with it is system engineers. That ability to combine different disciplines and turn them into a product with the right performance and place it on the right course is essential, as is the multidisciplinary factor. With Immunai you have three disciplines that must all work together. There are the biologists who analyze the data in the lab, there is the computational biology layer and on top of that, there is the layer of AI."

Orron explained that the working premises in biology are currently fairly established and now with AI it is possible to take these premises and prove them on more use cases and diseases.

"In any basic blood test you can identify many unique elements in our immune system. Immunai essentially profiles a person's immune system,"

Orron said. "And if you know all about someone's immune system you can, in theory, identify different diseases or you can, for example, tell an oncology patient which treatment is best for them, also known as companion diagnostics. You can also help the pharma companies move a lot faster in their clinical trials and ultimately develop drugs quicker."

Leveraging single-cell technologies and machine learning algorithms, Immunai has mapped out millions of immune cells and their functions, building the largest proprietary data set in the world for clinical immunological data.

"Biology expertise is becoming more and more granular and when looking for the best researchers in the world, founders may need to look outside the Israeli market. But in today's world you can set up a global company in which the AI tech could come from Israel and the biological research from across the globe," added Orron. "In Immunai's case, the founders are mathematicians by training and they joined forces with biologists from Stanford and the Parker Institute in New York. We are seeing more and more AI entrepreneurs turning their sights to the field of biology and partnering with researchers outside of Israel."

The emergence of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic combined with the ever-declining cost of DNA sequencing has put companies of the likes of Immunai in prime position to establish themselves in the post-corona world.

"The price of DNA sequencing is decreasing exponentially and regulation is always evolving. During the era of Covid-19 all kinds of regulatory elements were eased in order to reach a vaccine as quickly as possible. Once these two developments coincide there is suddenly a lot of data available as many clinical trials are taking place. And this allows AI to enter the picture and help accelerate the development of medicines and new diagnostic tools," said Orron. "Medicine is currently the ideal place for AI, both from a financial and a technological standpoint."

Orron added that Viola's interest in computational biology is rapidly expanding and that it is also on the lookout for innovative AI solutions combining computer science with other fundamental scientific disciplines.

"We really believe in computational biology and we want to continue and invest in this field. Israel is very new to this field, with the U.S. for example far more advanced. But this is the time to invest in Israel because we are seeing many quality entrepreneurs looking in this direction. There is great potential in Israel. We are also checking out other fields in which there is a combination of computer science with other scientific disciplines like chemistry, physics, or biology. Specifically, we want to see how AI can accelerate a known scientific phenomenon and enable business driven solutions. Right now, most of our focus is on physics and biology. In physics, for example, we are looking at the world of quantum computing which combines computer science with physics. We really believe in this multidisciplinary thesis of combining fundamental science with computer science."

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Viola Ventures is Seeking Technologies that Combine AI and Fundamental Scientific Disciplines - CTech

Immunology

Pittsburgh researcher says potential vaccines are being undermined by misinformation – wausaupilotandreview.com

By Oliver Morrison | Public Source Media

The state of COVID-19 vaccine research is currently in a Catch-22 dilemma, according to Dr. William Klimstra, an associate professor in the Immunology Department at the University of Pittsburgh, who is currently working on a potential vaccine.

The dilemma is this: The reason the development of a vaccine takes so long is that scientists have to be careful the vaccine does no harm in animals first and then in humans, before it even begins to test whether its effective. But at the same time, many Americans are not convinced that a vaccine would be safe and have said they wouldnt take it even if it was developed.

Were in an environment right now where longstanding accepted truths are being challenged through social media, Klimstra said. Its very difficult to fight that kind of stuff.

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Physiology

UW-Green Bay, Manitowoc Professor has been helping intelligent lab rats find good homes for the last 20 years | Good News Network – UWGB

Dozens of lab rats have been given happy retirements thanks to a professor of physiology and biology in Wisconsin.

Prof. Richard Hein of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus has been helping his lab rats find forever homes after his first and second-year students complete their introduction to anatomy courses.

Source: For the Last 20 Years, College Professor Has Been Helping Intelligent Lab Rats Find Good Homes | Good News Network

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UW-Green Bay, Manitowoc Professor has been helping intelligent lab rats find good homes for the last 20 years | Good News Network - UWGB

Physiology

In memoriam gift to the Academy celebrates the life and work of Professor Sally Smith – Australian Academy of Science

May 29, 2020

Academy Fellow Professor Andrew Smith recently made a donation in memory of his wife Professor Sally Smith FAA to support two Academy awards for PhD students and early- to mid-career researchers. The awards are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Travelling Research Award and the Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award.

Andrew said that Sallyunderstood the challenges of being a young researcher and it is fitting that this gift supports these awards.

Sally died suddenly in September 2019, aged 78, after a distinguished research career based at the University of Adelaide. Sally, who was elected to the Academy in 2001, was a world authority on soil-plant reactions. Andrew and daughters Caroline and Hilary decided that these Academy awards fit well with Sallys ongoing commitment to train and mentor young scientists as they seek to develop their research careers, and to the importance of travel to establish links in research. They were attracted by the emphasis on multi-disciplinary research involving environmental science and thatespecially in the case of the relatively new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awardthey can extend into social sciences.

An unusual honour, announced soon after Sallys death, was her inclusion in a select list of just 46 women associated with the University of Adelaide from many walks of life who have helped blaze the trail for gender equality.

In her own words, Sally said that her career: depended on accidents, incredible mentors and collaborators, persistence and a hefty measure of good luck. For younger scientists she said: Never give up and collaborate whenever you can. She summarised her career in an invited profile, published in New Phytologist, a prominent journal with which she had a long association (New Phytologist 2019, 221: 648-9).

Professor Tim Cavagnaro, formerly Sallys PhD student, who went on to work overseas and is now back at the University of Adelaide as leader of the Soil Ecology group on the Waite campus, writes:

Sally took a physiologists approach to her research; that is, she wanted to know how things work. And when experiments did not work she would advise that it was all part of lifes rich tapestry. Sally used many tools and techniques in her research, including whole plant physiology, molecular biology, morphological studies, mycorrhiza defective mutants, and isotope tracing.

The Academy gratefully acknowledges this generous gift that will provide research opportunities to young researchers for many years to come through its annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Travelling Research Awardand Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award.

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In memoriam gift to the Academy celebrates the life and work of Professor Sally Smith - Australian Academy of Science