ProfessorTony Weiss

Professor Anthony (Tony) Weiss is the McCaughey Chair in Biochemistry, NHMRC Leadership Fellow, and Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology. He leads the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine program within the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney.

 

Awards include the Order of Australia, Prime Minister's Prize for Innovation, NSW Premier's Prize for Science & Engineering Leadership in Innovation, and the Eureka Prize for Innovation in Medical Research. He has been honoured with the Australian Academy of Science's Ian Wark Medal, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering's Clunies Ross Medal, the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's Lemberg Medal, and the Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence. Further accolades include the Australasian Society for Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering's Award for Research Excellence, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's Weickhardt and Applied Research Medals, the Innovator of Influence Award, David Syme Research Medal, Amersham Pharmacia Biotechnology Medal, NSW Commercialization Expo Prize, Australian Innovation Challenge Award, MBSANZ Barry Preston Award, FAOBMB Entrepreneurship Award, and the Roslyn Flora Goulston Prize. He has also been an NIH Fogarty International Fellow and Fulbright Scholar. 

 

He serves on 14 Editorial Boards and is the inventor of 174 awarded international patents across 23 patent families. His work focuses on human tropoelastin, the component that provides tissue elasticity and significantly enhances the repair of scars and wounds. 

 

He is the Chair of Fellows of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, former President of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS), former Chair of TERMIS Asia Pacific, and former President of MBSANZ. He is a distinguished Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science,  Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, Royal Society of NSW, Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Society of Biology, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, US National Academy of Inventors, Biomaterials Science and Engineering, and Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine.

 

Professor Weiss founded the clinical-stage biotechnology company Elastagen Pty Ltd, which was acquired by Allergan/AbbVie in one of the largest life science transactions in Australian history.

 

The Weiss Laboratory at the University of Sydney is the world-leading research site for tropoelastin and synthetic elastin biomaterials. Funded by premier grants from Australia and around the globe, the laboratory thrives on the contributions of a high-calibre team of competitively placed postdocs, postgraduate students, and technical staff.

 

Specialties: Research translation, biochemistry, elastin, tropoelastin, extracellular matrix, tissue engineering, translational wound repair, cardiovascular repair, molecular biotechnology.