ASBMB

Thompson Prize History

The Thompson Prize is named in recognition of E.O.P. (Ted) Thompson’s contributions to the field of protein structure and function. See below for a list of previous winners.

An obituary of Ted that has recently been published in the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology magazine (The Australian Biochemist) can be found here.

A brief summary of Ted’s achievements

In brief, Ted graduated from the University of Sydney in 1945 with first class honours in Organic Chemistry. In 1950, at a time when international research opportunities were rare, Ted received a CSIRO studentship from the Biochemistry Unit of the Division of Wool Research. The timing couldn’t have been better, as Ted’s opportunity was to do his Ph.D. research in Fred Sanger’s laboratory at the time Sanger was completing his Nobel Prize-winning determination of the covalent structure of the A chain of insulin.

In Fred Sanger’s article “Sequences and Sequences” published in the 1998 Annual Review of Biochemistry, he makes note of the time when Ted arrived in his laboratory and how he admired Ted’s “no nonsense” view of research. “If there’s an experiment to be done, then Ted would set about doing it”; Ted completed the primary structure of the glycyl chain, which was obviously very challenging at the time and his success left a favourable impression of Australian scientists in Cambridge. Fred was an excellent mentor for Ted, as he was a gifted experimentalist, patient and persistent with a quiet sense of humour and enthusiasm.

Following the completion of his Ph.D. at Cambridge, Ted extended his experience with proteins as a post-doctoral fellow and research instructor in the laboratory of Emil Smith at the University of Utah Medical School assisting in the laboratories enzyme research by applying some of the methods developed in Cambridge.

From 1954 to 1966 Ted worked in the CSIRO Division of Protein Chemistry working closely with Ian O’Donnell on the fractionation, purification and characterisation on one of the classes of wool proteins. In 1966 Ted was appointed Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biological Sciences UNSW. This was a period of rapid expansion of Australian Universities and it was a considerable challenge to move from the well-funded CSIRO environment into a department of limited resources and equipment for protein research.

However, with the establishment of the ARGC (now the ARC) and with University support, Ted established a highly productive program and team and determined the primary structure of several classes of protein including myoglobin, haemoglobin, ovalbumin, fructose-1,6 biphosphatase and oestrogen sulphotransferase. Ted retired in 1990 after 45 years of active research during which he had the satisfaction of collaborating with talented research scientists participating in and appreciating rapid advances in the knowledge gained from research involving proteins and nucleic acids.

The SPG will continue the tradition of providing young scientists opportunities to present their work and compete for this prestigious award.

Previous winners of the Thompson Prize (Hall of Fame)

2021	Aster Pijning – Centenary Institute
2020	Sarah Ball – University of Sydney
2019	Yichen Zhong – University of Sydney
2018	Emma Watson – University of Sydney
2017	Lisanne Spenkelink – University of Wollongong
2016	Emma Dawson – University of Technology Sydney
2015	Laura McCaughey – University of Technology Sydney
2014	Dezarae Cox – University of Wollongong
2013	Jana Paulech – SMB, U. Syd.
2012	Morgan Gadd – SMB, U. Syd
2011	Arun Dass – Macquarie Uni.
2010	Miriam-Rose Ash – School of SMB, U. Syd.
2009	Annie Quan – Children’s Medical Research Institute
2008	Simon Brown – University of Wollongong
2007	Georg Craft – CMRI
2006	David Jacques – School of MMB, U. Syd.
2005	Daniel Ryan – School of MMB, U. Syd.
2004	Kate Edwards – School of MMB, U. Syd.
2003	Daniel Trambaiolo – School of MMB, U. Syd
2002	Mark Douglas – Westmead Millenium Institute
2001	Amanda Nouwens – APAF, Macquarie Uni.
2000	Adam Brymora – CMRI and U. Syd
1999	Catherine X. Moss – Dept of Chemistry, Macquarie Uni.
1998	Jeremy Turner – Dept of Biochem., U. Syd
1997	Rosie Santangelo – Westmead Hospital
1996	Jamie Fletcher – Dept of Biochem., U. Syd.
1995	Jennifer Coverly – Kolling Institute, RNSH
1994	David Sinclair – Dept of Biochem., UNSW
1993	Sonia Yip – Biotech Australia.
1992	Heather Knott – Dept of Biochem., U. Syd.