NSW Premier’s Prize win for Burnett
"It's a testament to what we can achieve when we collaborate and use our shared knowledge, to answer the important research questions that will let us advance health outcomes."
For her outstanding research contributions to improving vaccine efficacy, Dr Deborah Burnett was named Early Career Researcher of the Year, in the Biological Sciences category of the 2023 NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science and Engineering.
The award was presented by Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Anoulack Chanthivong, on November 15 at Government House.
Burnett said she feels “humbled and absolutely thrilled” to have been awarded a Premier’s Prize.
“It’s a testament to what we can achieve when we collaborate and use our shared knowledge, to answer the important research questions that will let us advance health outcomes.”
Burnett is an early career immunologist and leader of the Protective Immunity Group at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and a conjoint senior lecturer at St Vincent’s Clinical School, which is part of the University of NSW’s Faculty of Medicine and Health.
Her work focuses on B cells, on developing better models to understand how they respond to infectious threats, and how to harness this knowledge to develop better vaccines.
She has made groundbreaking discoveries in antibody development, resulting in new research platforms to evaluate vaccine responses against specific infectious disease targets, that have led to a strategy to generate future-proofed COVID-19 vaccines that can resist emerging viral strains.
Burnett has published 25 research articles, including in the prestigious journals Science, Cell and Immunity, and holds several patents related to antibody and vaccine design.
She founded Accelerated Vaccine Triage and Response (AVaTAR) – Australia’s first dedicated vaccine evaluation research and development network – and her vaccine research has secured significant competitive grant funding.
“I want to thank my research mentors, my incredible team, and my collaborators in NSW and around the world, for the work that we have done together, which has led me here today,” Burnett said.
Just a month earlier, she was awarded a 2023 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship.
That will help to support her cutting-edge research investigating the immune mechanisms behind Guillain-Barré syndrome, which is a rare autoimmune disorder that attacks nerve cells, leading to muscle weakness and paralysis.
Burnett hopes to inspire more young women to pursue science careers.
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