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The BPA is presented by the MBSANZ annually to a senior researcher in the matrix field. The awardee is an outstanding leader distinguished by a sustained record of achievement, commitment to mentoring new researchers and exceptional communication skills. The Dennis Lowther Award is awarded by the society each year to the best poster presentation by a student at the annual MBSANZ meeting. The MBSANZ established the New Investigator Award in 2005 to recognise and support the early career development of new graduates in the field of matrix biology. Barry Preston Award Barry Preston Professor of Biochemistry Monash University 1965 - 2000 | 
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Barry arrived in Australia from England in the early 1960s and was one of the first lecturers in Biochemistry at the newly established Monash University in Clayton, Victoria. Barry’s research interest was the application of the principles of physical chemistry to biopolymers. Utilising model systems, Barry made major contributions to the understanding of the transport and excluded volume properties of matrix proteoglycans and hyaluronan. He was an enthusiastic teacher and mentor to young researchers and is remembered with great fondness and respect by those who had the good fortune to work under his guidance. Barry was the driving force behind the formation of the Connective Tissue Society of Australia and New Zealand, as MBSANZ was then known, in 1975. He was the inaugural president of the society and served as such on four other occasions. He was director and board member of the Arthritis Foundation of Victoria. Barry passed away in 2000 and in his memory, the MBSANZ established the BPA to honour his achievements in the matrix field. The award is open to any Australian or New Zealand researcher in the matrix field currently at a national or international research institution, who exemplifies the same passion for discovery and commitment to innovation that Barry typified.
2010 Barry Preston Awardee:
Christopher Little Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Laboratories Kolling Institute of Medical Research Institute of Bone and Joint Research University of Sydney Royal North Shore Hospital
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Previous awardees:- 2009 | Bruce Caterson | Cardiff University, Wales | The glycobiologyof the Stem/Progenitor cell niche | 2008 | John Bateman | Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Australia | Extracellular gene mutations turned inside-out: cellular responses and extracellular consequences | 2007 | Amanda Fosang | University of Melbourne, Australia | Modulating chondrocyte hypertrophy in growth plate and OA cartilage | 2006 | Tony Poole | University of Otago, New Zealand | Cartilage chondrons and primary cilia: Mechanosensory mechanisms | 2005 | Miranda Grounds | UWA, Australia | Complex interactions between the extracellular matrix and skeletal muscle | 2004 | Lydia Sorokin | Lund University, Sweden | The role of blood vessel basement membranes in leukocyte extravasation into the central nervous system | 2003 | Jeremy Turnbull | University of Liverpool, UK | Heparan sulphates: structural diversity and specificity create functional versatility | 2002 | Peter Johnson | University of Sydney, Australia | Transforming growth factor ? induction of extracellular matrix proteins in airway smooth muscleis mediated via connective tissue growth factor | 2001 | Veronica James | ANU, Australia | Synchrotron fibre diffraction - the diagnostic too of the 21st century |
Dennis Lowther Award | Dennis Lowther Professor of Biochemistry Monash University | 
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Dennis established the connective tissue research group at Monash University in the 1960s. This was the first group of its kind in Australia and under Dennis’s leadership developed a strong graduate teaching program. Many of the Australian leaders in the matrix field today, located both in Australia and overseas, can trace their beginnings back to this group. To continue in the spirit of student mentorship initiated by Dennis, the MBSANZ established the DLA in 1992. The inaugural winner was Kathy Traianedes from St Vincents Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, who presented a poster entitled “Differential induction by retinoic acid of osteopontin and alkaline phosphatase when osteoblasts are grown on collagen”. 2009 | Leona Tooley | Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne | Understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of the collagen VI vWA domain mutations | | Chantelle McTintyre | SA Pathology and University of Adelaide | Lentiviral mediated gene therapy for murine mucopolysaccharidosis | 2008 | Else Jacobson | North Shore Hospital | Focal injury induces widespread pathology in equine superficial digital flexor tendons | 2007 | Wilson Chan | University of Hong Kong | Ectopic expression of unfolded mutant collagen X in bone cells results in generalised hyperostosis in mice | 2006 | Rishika Pace | Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne | Collagen VI triple helical glycine mutations cause UCMD | 2005 | Rena Hirani | University of Adelaide | LTBP-2 competes with LTBP-1 for binding to fibulin-1 and interacts with basement membrane collagen-IV | | Bianca Barnado | Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne | CILP2: A novel ECM protein expressed in developing cartilage | 2004 | Tom Samiric | La Trobe University, Melbourne | Catabolism of newly synthesised proteoglycans in tendon and the effects of highly sulphated polysaccharides on this process | 2003 | Justin Allen | Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne | Expression of WARP, a novel von Willebrand factor A-domain extracellular matrix molecule in cartilage | 2002 | Jessica Faggian | Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne | Remodelling of the foetal lung is accompanied by changes in chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans and hyaluronan | | | | | | | | |
To be eligible for the Dennis Lowther Award applicatns must :- be financial, student members of MBSANZ register for the conference and submit an abstract by the date determined by the local organising committee - present their research in poster fromat at the meeting
- (students giving an oral presentation must also prepare a poster to be eligible for the award)
New Investigator AwardApplicants for the award are invited every year. Finalists are chosen from submitted abstracts and CVs (see criteria below) and are invited to present at the next meeting of MBSANZ. The winner is determined from the oral presentations and the award conferred at the meeting. 2009 | Julie Nigro | | Analysis of the fine chemical structure of glycosaminoglycans in cultured human embryonic stem cells and their feeder cells | 2008 | Megan Lord | UNSW, Sydney | Chondroitin sulphate chain on bikunin alters with disease and gender | 2007 | Ian Smyth | Monash University, Melbourne | The Fras/Frem genes mediate embryonic epidermal adhesion | 2006 | Justin Allen | Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne | Expression of the von Willebrand factor A-domain extracellular matrix molecule WARP during mouse embryonic development | 2005 | Jason White | University of Melbourne | Developmental expression of extraceullar matrix proteins and extreme muscle hypertrophy |
To be eligible for the New Investigator Award, applicants must :- be financial members of MBSANZ have no more than 10 years post-doctoral experience register for the conference and submit an abstract for an oral presentation by the date determined by the local organising committee provide a short CV
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