A University of Queensland lecturer has won the Society for Experimental Biology's President's medal for outstanding young biologists - one of only two awarded worldwide in 1997.
Dr Craig Franklin, from the University's Zoology Department, was presented with the medal at the Society's annual meeting held at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom on April 7 before 1500 eminent scientists.
For the past decade, Dr Franklin has studied the physiology, flexibility and plasticity (tissue changes according to load) of Antarctic fish, saltwater crocodiles and turtles.
In late 1996, Dr Franklin made his sixth trip to the Antarctic to study the fish Pagothenia borchgrevinki.
P.borchgrevinki lives in water temperatures of around -1.8 degrees Celsius and Dr Franklin's work centres on the circulatory physiology enabling the fish to survive at very low temperatures.
His latest Antarctic trip was funded by one of 41 awards totalling $500,000 from the University of Queensland's third round quality funds to University staff to facilitate interdisciplinary and international research.
In 1997, he began an Australian Geographic Pty Ltd-sponsored project examining Rheodytes leukops, commonly known as the Fitzroy River tortoise, which occurs in only four rivers around Rockhampton in Queensland.
Dr Franklin and honours student Toni Priest are particularly interested in the turtle's extraordinary ability to extract oxygen from water through special 'gills' lining its rear passage (cloaca). This ability allows the turtle to breathe underwater for extended periods. When not underwater, the turtle breathes air normally through its mouth and lungs.
Little research has been conducted on the turtle since it was first described 25 years ago and the project is expected to shed new light on its biology as well as the likely effects of habitat disturbance on its survival.
The Society for Experimental Biology is a non-profit registered charity, dedicated to the promotion of all aspects of experimental biology.
It is organised into three sections - animal, cell and plant biology - which in turn are organised into a number of specialised groups covering a broad area of comparative physiology, cell and molecular biology.
Each year, up to three young scientists (usually under 35 at the time of nomination) are awarded President's medals to recognise outstanding contributions made to their fields.
As part of the award, Dr Franklin was flown to the United Kingdom for the annual meeting and presentation where he also delivered a 20-minute speech entitled Salt and Water Balance in Crocodilians - from Salt Glands to Cloacae.
'I am both delighted and humbled to receive the medal - it's great to be rewarded for something I love doing,' Dr Franklin said.
For more information, contact Dr Franklin (telephone 3365 2355).
