Fiona Wood and Barry Marshall are two prominent Australian scientists. Fiona Wood is director of the Burn Service of Western Australia and known for her work treating victims of the 2002 Bali bombings. Her current research focuses on scarless healing and the impact of burns on the nervous and immune systems. Barry Marshall won the 2005 Nobel Prize for discovering that Helicobacter pylori causes stomach ulcers and gastritis. His current work involves developing vaccines from Helicobacter to potentially prevent diseases like influenza and cancer. Both scientists have made hugely important contributions through their research that have helped many patients worldwide.

1. Australian Scientists
o Identify practising male and female Australian scientists, the areas
in which they are currently working and information about their
research:
1) Identify 1 male and 1 female Australian scientist
2) Outline the areas in which they are currently working
3) Information about their research
4) How does their work impact society and/or the environment?

2. Fiona Wood
Current work and information about her research:
Director of the Burn Service of Western Australia
Consultant at Royal Perth Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth
The co-founder and Director of AVITA Medical
Co-founder and Chair of the McComb Foundation
Through the McComb Foundation, Wood aims to conduct further research
into tissue repair, regeneration and reconstruction with the aim of
improving patient quality of life and return to pre-injury condition.
Wood continues to consult on clinical trial and medical affairs
She is also involved in a number of educational and disaster response
programs
Now, Woods is looking into an approach to healing burns patients, which
she calls „scarless healing‟. In particular, Wood‟s has turned her attention to
the impact of burns injuries on the nervous and immune systems.

3. Wood’s work and it’s impact in society:
Internationally recognised for her use of tissue engineering technology
in clinical burn practice and scar reconstruction, and has given more
than 100 presentations at major burn, wound and plastic surgery
conferences and medical centres worldwide.
She has also contributed to more than forty research papers published in
medical journals.
Commonly recognised for her extensive work with 28 Bali bombing
victims, who were evacuated to the Royal Perth Hospital after the
disaster in 2002. The victims she treated had between 2 and 95% burnt
skin, deadly infections and delayed shock – 25 patients survived.
Spray-on skin: An alternative to painful traditional grafting techniques,
the new approach took healthy cells from the patient and requires only 5
days to be cultured before tissue could be sprayed onto the wound.

4. Barry Marshall
Current work and information about his research:
Marshall has one session a week with his patients, half the day made up
of physically treating them, and the other half looking after their
prescriptions
Marshall is currently working with the idea that, “half the world may
have „Helicobacter‟ and are experiencing no symptoms.”
You cannot get rid of Helicobacter, so Marshall is experimenting with the idea that we
may be able to use it to our advantage, and prevent it from causing cancer.
Current work involves a vaccine – by using Helicobacter, and removing
all of the harmful and toxic parts, they are able to clone it into a
vaccine. More specifically, they are looking into a vaccine for
influenza.
Marshall and co-workers are also experimenting with the idea of having
the vaccine in foods, so as to save people from having to pay for the
vaccine, and also ensure that everyone is exposed to the vaccine.

5. Marshall’s work and it’s impact in society:
In 2005, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren won the Nobel Prize for Physiology
or Medicine, for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its
role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.
A germ that lives in the stomach and causes ulcers
Significance: people with this disease, may be unaware of it as some people do
not experience any symptoms. This discovery has allowed for people to be
checked for this disease and henceforth prevent it from developing into cancer
later in life.
This disease is now widely recognised as the most common chronic infection in
the world. Marshall‟s discovery of the infection and the medicine that kills
Helicobacter and eliminated ulcers permanently, clearly identifies it‟s
significance.
His discovery is recognised as the most significant discovery in the history of
gastroenterology (compared with the development of polio vaccine and the
eradication of smallpox).
Quote from the presentation of the Nobel Prize: “Your discovery has meant that
this frequently chronic and disabling condition can now be permanently cured
by antibiotics to the benefit of millions of patients. Your pioneering work has
also stimulated research all around the world to better understand the link
between chronic infections and diseases such as cancer.”