The Eppendorf Edman ECR Award
The Eppendorf Edman ECR Award is awarded to an ASBMB member with no more than 7 years postdoctoral experience (or equivalent taking any career disruption into account), in recognition of their outstanding research work. The Award provides funds to assist the recipient to attend an overseas conference in a field associated with biochemistry or molecular biology or to visit briefly a research laboratory in Australia or elsewhere to access specialised equipment or to learn new research techniques. Applicants must have been members of the Society for at least 2 years before the year in which the application is to be considered, or must have taken out a 3 year membership in the year of the application. The contribution to travel expenses is provided through the courtesy of Eppendorf South Pacific.
To view a list of previous awardees please click here.
Application Information
- All applicants should have been members of the ASBMB for a minimum of 2 years
- All applications should include at least 2 supporters who should have been members of the ASBMB for a minimum of 2 years
- Applicants should prepare an application document to include all information detailed on the Eppendorf Edman ECR Award Application Template. This document should be saved as a single PDF file ready to be uploaded as part of the online application form.
- Applicants should have a letter of reference for each of your 2 supporters saved ready to be uploaded as part of the online application form.
When you are ready to begin your application, please click the button below.
2025 Award Recipient
In late-2017, Dimitra moved to Australia as a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Professor Jamie Rossjohn, at Monash University. In 2019, she joined Professor Gras’ newly established group at Monash University, and, in 2021, the group relocated to La Trobe University. Since her PhD, she has driven multiple successful projects resulting in a deeper understanding of host–pathogen recognition. Dimitra was recently awarded an NHMRC Emerging Leadership 1 Investigator Grant commencing in 2026 to investigate the protective nature of human leukocyte antigens in fighting against viruses. She has been awarded many competitive research grants and awards, including an Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering Early Career Research Grant for her leading work in collaboration with the Australian Synchrotron (2020), an Australian Society for Medical Research Small Research Grant (2021) and a La Trobe University Large Collaboration Internal Investment Scheme Grant (2021), for her leading work on COVID-19 research. Moreover, she was awarded a La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science Miller Postdoctoral Travel Fellowship (2022), the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Career Advancement Award (2022) as well as a La Trobe University Excellence in Research: Engagement and Impact Award (2023).
The key aim of Dimitra’s research is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that are involved in the immune system actions when faced with viral infections. In total, Dimitra’s work has thus far resulted in 34 publications in top-tier journals in their respective fields, with more than 50% lead authored including the high impact publications in the journals Nature (2023), Immunity (2021) and Cell Reports (2024). Her publications have drawn wide international attention, with the recent one in Nature being ranked in the top 1% of most cited articles by media in history, with an Altmetric Attention score of 2959. Dimitra is familiar with research dissemination in the media via podcasts, social media and blogs, as evidenced by personal invitations for several interviews, including in The Guardian, ABC News, Neos Kosmos, Kathimerini and Proto Thema.
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