The Friends of Goethe-Institut Australia are pleased to announce the winners of this year's scholarship program for young Australians with a focus on Women in STEM. Researchers Khalia Primer, PhD and Sandya Athukorala will be going on a 4-6 weeks research trip to Germany to pursue their studies. Sandya will be working at Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam developing materials to improve infection control of implants. Khalia will continue her research on type 1 Diabetes at Fraunhofer IZI in Leipzig.
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Khalia Primer
Dr Khalia Primer holds a PhD in biochemistry and cardiovascular medicine from the University of Adelaide and is currently undertaking medical training at the University of Melbourne. Her research aims to understand the underlying biology of vascular issues caused by diabetes, and discover new ways to treat them. During her PhD, she identified a gene therapy-based treatment that could improve diabetic wound healing by enhancing new blood vessel growth. Dr Primer als serves as an elected Board Director of the Australian Society for Medical Research.
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Sandya Athukoralalage
Sandya Athukoralalage is a PhD candidate from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at The University of Queensland. She is working on developing materials with a remarkable synergy of antimicrobial and antibiofouling properties designed for advanced surface coatings. By modifying cellulose sourced from sugarcane trash, her research aims to address urgent sustanability needs in infection control, particularly crucial during pandemics.
