The Research Support Award will be presented to Dr Sam T. Mugford in 2025. Sam has worked as a Research Assistant in Professor Saskia Hogenhout’s lab for the last 11 years, during which time he has researched the roles of aphid saliva proteins in supressing plant immunity, as well as providing technical support across a range of projects in molecular genetics, genome sequencing, population genetics, bioinformatics, cell biology and protein biochemistry. Sam takes great pleasure from assisting in the training, mentoring and supervision of research students. He also enjoys participating in the life of the John Innes Centre beyond their research group. As well as being an excellent place to do science, the institute has a very collegiate and collaborative culture and that is something Sam is keen to help support and maintain.

Sam joined the JIC in 2007 as a post-doc working on plant metabolism in Professor Anne Osbourn’s group and later in Professor Alison Smith’s group. Before that, he did a PhD in the Plant Science department at Oxford University. Sam got his first taste of research science at the JIC when he did an undergraduate placement year as part of his undergraduate degree at Bath University, after which he worked as a research technician at the Long Ashton Research Station in Bristol.

Sam said: "This is a huge honour and an amazing surprise. I’m enormously grateful to the Biochemical Society for the award, to Saskia Hogenhout for nominating me and for all those that supported the nomination. It’s really pleasing to see that there are awards like this that provide recognition for staff in support roles working in a research environment."

The 2024 Research Support Award will be presented to the WEHI Bioservices Team. For decades, mouse models have fulfilled one of the most valuable roles in medical research. Mice bred specifically pathogen free, mice transgenic for a researcher’s gene of interest, or have the gene deleted altogether. Mice which are the result of several generations of breeding different knockouts together. A programme of research may involve analysing the immunology of these mice, their organs, their responses to environmental cues, infections or a range of behavioural activities.

The breeding and experimental activities performed to care for and assess these mice are complex and detailed. The work to achieve excellent animal husbandry and welfare while ensuring accurate and well documented results for researchers is vast. A team of almost 90 animal technicians and attendants at the WEHI, perform this work every day of the year.

Our technicians are trained to provide highly regulated animal welfare, to identify a range of phenotypes and illnesses in mice, and to perform complex experimental procedures while ensuring animals are treated with compassion and respect. This team of technicians works collaboratively with researchers in over 50 laboratories to ensure that each experiment provides data to researchers and supports an efficient and effective use of our scientists’ research dollars.

On winning the Research Support Award for 2024, the team said: "The Bioservices Team are delighted to receive the 2024 Research Support Award from the Biochemical Society. We are honoured by the recognition that this award represents and the acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication that the team demonstrates to the animals in their care, providing continuing research support in Australia. We would like to extend our thanks to WEHI director Professor Doug Hilton for nominating the team for this award and Professor Kile and Professor Strasser for their support of the nomination."

Team representatives included in the photo (from left to right):

• Jaclyn Gilbert, Bioservices Supervisor
• Jessica Mansheim, Barrier Co-ordinator
• Dannielle Cooper, Bioservices Supervisor
• Giovanni Siciliano, Assistant Facility Manager, Parkville
• Tracey Ballinger, Bioservices Supervisor
• Julie Merryfull, Facility Manager, Parkville
• Amanda Dickson, Facility Manager, Kew