We at AEpiA congratulate Professor Ryan Lister of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at the University of Western Australia, who was recently awarded the 2014 Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year.

Ryan’s work over the past two decades has been enhancing our understanding of the key role of epigenetics in gene regulation – from producing the first complete epigenome maps of both plant species and humans, to discovering the role of epigenetics in the molecular memory of stem cells, to describing the epigenetic regulation of gene expression during human brain development.

This prize, one of six Prime Minster’s Prizes for Science awarded annually, acknowledges Ryan’s contribution to the understanding of gene regulation and its potential ability to change agriculture and the treatment of disease and mental health.