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Tuesday, 26 April 2016

Nobel Laureate and Professor at The University of Western Australia Barry Marshall has led a number of prominent events in China during Austrade’s second Australia Week in China (AWIC) program.

Professor Marshall was joint winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2005 and is remembered in particular for an episode in which he acted as a 'human guinea pig' and swallowed a concoction containing Helicobacter pylori to provide evidence to prove his hypothesis.

As a result of his collaboration with Emeritus Professor Robin Warren, most gastritis conditions and ulcers can now be cured with antibiotics and the incidence of gastric cancer has been significantly reduced.

Professor Marshall was the final judge for the 1st China (Shenzhen) Innovation Competition of International Talents and gave an opening speech to thousands of experts at the 14th Conference of International Exchange of Professionals. Both events received wide media coverage across China.

Professor Marshall was welcomed to Shenzhen by Deputy Mayor Ms Yihuai WU before attending the opening ceremony of Shenzhen Enzyme Infagen Co. Limited and the Marshall Centre for Innovative Diagnosis of H.pylori, a joint venture with a local company which aims to manufacture innovative medical diagnostic devices.

Head of Molecular Laboratory from UWA’s School of Laboratory and Pathology Medicine, Professor Jiake Xu, who accompanied Professor Marshall said he is an iconic figure in China and worldwide for translational medicine.

"That is, where you discover something and put it into practice," said Professor Xu.

”Over the years, there have been many trips between China and Australia by medical experts from both nations to promote translational medicine at events such as the China-Australia biomedical research conferences," Professor Xu said.

In recognition of Professor Marshall’s significant contribution to China’s scientific and technological development and his world class biomedical research resulting in productive collaboration between the two nations, the Nobel Luareate received The People’s Republic of China Friendship Award from the Chinese government in 2015.

Media references

Ms Kris Laurie (Office of the Nobel Laureates) (+61 4)00 940 590)
Professor Barry Marshall (UWA School of Laboratory and Pathology Medicine) (+61 8) 6488 4658
David Stacey (UWA Public Affairs) (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 32 637 716

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