From left: Dr Tet-Woo Lee, Professor Bill Denny and Mr Sofian Tijono
Congratulations to Dr Tet-Woo Lee and Mr Sofian Tijono on receiving awards at the Annual General Meeting of the Cancer Society Auckland. These awards were presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Cancer Society Auckland/Northland, held on 13 September 2019 at Domain Lodge. They were followed by a short talk from Dr Lee on his research.
Dr Tet-Woo Lee received the 2019 Keith and Meida Hepburn young scientist research award. This award is given annually to a young scientist in the Centre on the basis of their research accomplishments since joining the Centre.
Tet-Woo completed his PhD in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland in 2012. Along the way he won numerous departmental prizes in Physiology, in Biological Sciences, in Plant Sciences, along with several prestigious scholarships.
He then did postdoctoral work in neuroscience at both the University of Auckland and University of Otago before joining the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre. He brought valuable skills in molecular biology and bioinformatics, and currently chairs a group that employs genetic technologies to discover genes that influence sensitivity of cancer cells to drugs and other environmental stresses.
He has secured grant funding for this work. He has published a series of first-author papers on it and has actively engaged in student supervision and teaching.
Mr Sofian Tijono received the 2019 Hepburn Cancer Research and Mary Manning Memorial Fellowship Award 2019 This fellowship award is given every two years to a professional staff member in the Centre who has excelled in providing invaluable technical support for research.
Following formal training in Medicine and Biomedical science, Sofian joined the Centre in 2006, where he has made major contributions to research programmes on enhancing the body’s natural anti-tumour immunity to fight cancer. He also has Centre-wide duties that include managing the Luminex spectroscopy facility and in training new staff and students in cell culture and molecular biology techniques. He is a long-service volunteer with St. John Ambulance NZ and is also the Medical officer for the Centre.
He also a dedicated long-term volunteer and helper in annual fundraising events, including being for many years the coordinator of the Centre’s contribution to collections for Daffodil Day in the Auckland central business district.