Suzanne Cory facts for kids

Suzanne Cory (born 11 March 1942) is an Australian scientist who studies living things at a tiny level. She looks at how genes work in our bodies. Her work has helped us understand the immune system and cancer. She has also encouraged Australia to invest more in science. Suzanne Cory is married to another scientist, Jerry Adams.

Early Life and Education

Suzanne Cory grew up in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. She went to Canterbury Girls' Secondary College and University High School, Melbourne.

She studied at the University of Melbourne. There, she earned her first science degrees in Biochemistry in 1964 and 1965. In 1966, she moved to Cambridge, England. She studied at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). In 1968, she earned her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge.

Career and Research

After her studies in Cambridge, Suzanne Cory went to the University of Geneva. There, she continued her research. She studied the RNA of a tiny virus called R17 bacteriophage. This helped her learn more about how genes are put together.

Discoveries in Immunity

In 1971, Suzanne Cory and her husband, Jerry Adams, started working in Melbourne. They joined the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. They brought new science tools and methods from Europe to Australia. This helped improve molecular biology research there.

They first studied the genes that control our immune system. They found that antibody genes are made of different pieces. These pieces can be put together in many ways. This discovery helped explain why our immune system is so good at fighting off many different germs.

Research on Cancer

After ten years, Cory's lab started focusing on cancer. They looked at the genetic changes that cause different types of cancer. Her team found the gene changes that lead to Burkitt's lymphoma and Follicular lymphoma. These are types of blood cancer.

A big part of their cancer research is about how cells grow and die. They study proteins like Myc and the Bcl-2 family. These proteins are important for cell life and death. The Bcl-2 protein helps stop cells from dying when they should not.

Cory's lab has developed new medicines called BH3 mimetics. These medicines block Bcl-2. When used with small amounts of chemotherapy, they have shown good results. They help treat certain types of aggressive lymphomas.

Leadership in Science

Suzanne Cory was the President of the Australian Academy of Science. She was the first woman to hold this important position. She served from 2010 to 2014.

She was also the Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI). She led WEHI from 1996 until 2009. She is still a faculty member there. Her current research looks at genetic changes in blood cancers. She also studies how chemotherapy drugs affect cancer cells.

Cory's work has been published in many important science journals. These include Blood, Nature, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Recognitions and Legacy

In 2011, a public high school was named in her honour. The Suzanne Cory High School is located near Victoria University. It teaches students from grades 9 to 12.

In 2021, the Australian Academy of Science created the Suzanne Cory Medal for Biomedical Sciences. This medal is given for excellent research in biological sciences.

Awards and Honors

Suzanne Cory has received many awards for her scientific work:

• 1986 — Elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
• 1992 — Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
• 1998 — Received the Charles S. Mott Prize
• 1999 — Named a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)
• 2001 — Received a L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science
• 2002 — Awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society
• 2009 — Named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by France
• 2012 — Won the CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science
• 2013 — Elected a Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy
• 2014 — Gave the annual ABC Boyer Lectures

Personal Life

Suzanne Cory met Jerry Adams while they were both studying in Cambridge, England. He is a scientist from the United States. They later married and have two daughters.

Images for kids

• 

  A robot representing science for kids.