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A team of researchers from the Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne and Monash University have been named as finalists in the Eureka Prizes for their work informing new STI treatment guidelines and prevention strategies.

The Eureka Prizes are the nation’s most comprehensive awards, offering $140,000 in prize money across a broad spectrum of research, from environmental to innovative technologies, citizen science, leadership and mentoring.

Professor Deborah Williamson, Director of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory at the Doherty Institute joins University of Melbourne Professor Jane Hocking, from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health and Monash University’s Associate Professor Eric Chow and Professors Christopher Fairley, Catriona Bradshaw and Marcus Chen in this nomination The team is recognised globally as among the top-ranked most active researchers in the field of STIs.

Professor Jane Hocking is a global expert in the epidemiology and control of Chlamydia trachomatis and has led pioneering research into chlamydia treatment. Professor Deborah Williamson is an international leader in pathogen genomics and an expert in the development of laboratory-based resistance trials. Through her role at the PDI, she has direct access to all gonorrhoea and syphilis samples from the state of Victoria for genomic testing and analysis. This access gives her additional insights.

“We know that rapid rises and antimicrobial resistance in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are of global significance. Our team has developed novel interventions and strategies to improve control of STIs and to optimise antimicrobial stewardship,” Professor Hocking says.

Untreated gonorrhoea and chlamydia can cause serious health problems such as infertility and ectopic pregnancy; and syphilis can result in serious morbidity including ocular syphilis, which results in blindness, and congenital syphilis if spread to a foetus during pregnancy from an infected mother. The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycoplasma genitalium is of global significance as this will render these STIs increasingly difficult or impossible to treat.

The team’s research has changed Australian and international chlamydia and Mycoplasma genitalium treatment guidelines, has pioneered the implementation of resistance-guided therapy for Mycoplasma genitalium, has produced ground breaking, world-first methodology integrating genomic and epidemiologic data to help understand the epidemiology of STIs, and has made new discoveries, establishing salvia as playing a key role in the transmission of gonorrhoea leading to an innovative mouthwash intervention to reduce transmission.

Two other projects from the University of Melbourne were also shortlisted for Eureka awards.

The Victorian Indigenous Engineering Winter School (VIEWS) is a unique tertiary collaboration that is boosting opportunity for Indigenous Australians to be better represented in engineering and information technology. VIEWS is one of three shortlisted projects in the Department of Industry, Science and Resources Eureka Prize for STEM Inclusion category.

The University of Melbourne, Monash, RMIT and Swinburne Universities work together to provide the program, along with support from Indigenous community Elders, industry partners and the community.

A third initiative, the University’s joint project NanoMslide with La Trobe University, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, has made the shortlisted category of ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology.

By applying a patented coating created with cutting-edge nanofabrication technology, the collaborators behind NanoMslide are turning the humble glass microscope slide into a diagnostic lab. Cancer cells interact with the coating and produce an instant colour variation, enabling fast, accurate, cost-effective diagnoses without the need for specialised equipment.

The winners of the 2022 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes will be announced on Wednesday 31 August at an awards ceremony at the Museum.