IVF pioneer to speak at UQ function

The pioneer of human in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) will speak at an upcoming University of Queensland public lecture.

Professor Alan Trounson will discuss Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cells: Creating New Medical Directions at the 2002 E.S. Meyers Memorial Lecture, to be held on Thursday, August 29, at 7pm in Mayne Hall, St Lucia.

Professor Trounson is Director of Monash University’s Institute of Reproduction and Development and is also a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology/Paediatrics.

His present research interests are focused on human embryonic stem cells and their directed differentiation, nuclear transfer for cloning for the process of dedifferentiation and somatic cell plasticity for trans-differentiation into new cell and tissue types.

The annual lecture, which honours the memory of one of the founding fathers of the UQ School of Medicine, Professor Errol Solomon Meyers, is presented by the UQ Medical Society and is one of the major highlights of the Society’s academic year.

Held since 1957, previous speakers of note include Professor Earl Owen (pioneering microsurgeon responsible for the world’s first hand transplant), Sir Edmund Hillary (mountaineer and diplomat) and Professor Peter Doherty (1996 Nobel Prize winner for medicine).

Admission to the non-profit event is be free ticket only with bookings available by contacting 07 3365 5261 or uqmedsoc@student.uq.edu.au

Media: For further information, contact the UQ Medical Society (telephone 07 3365 5261) or Joanne van Zeeland at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2619 or email: communications@uq.edu.au).