Alessandra Pucci | |
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| Born | June 1942 (age 82) |
| Other names | Alessandra Alberta Pucci Alex Pucci |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Organization(s) | Monoclonal Australia Ltd BioDiscovery Ltd |
Alessandra Alberta Pucci AO EF FTSE (born June 1942) is an Australian immunologist and entrepreneur who founded and led Australian Monoclonal Development, the first biotechnology company in Australia.
Pucci was born in Eritrea in June 1942, one of five children of her Italian parents, journalist father and homemaker mother. [1] : 108 She was educated at the University of Pisa and the University of Florence. [2]
When her husband was given an eight-month appointment in Australia, she accompanied him and they decided to settle permanently in Sydney. [1] : 108 She enrolled in a PhD at the University of Sydney under the supervision of Professor Robert Clancy and graduated in 1981 with a thesis titled "Cellular aspects of mucosal immunology in man". [3]
Pucci founded Australian Monoclonal Development Pty Ltd (AMD) in 1981, and served as chief executive. It was the first biotechnology company in Australia. [4] Listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange in 1986, as Monoclonal Australia Ltd, it was later sold to ICI Australia and merged with Silenus Laboratories. [5] She was then appointed Director of Business Development by the Garvan Institute [6] and later founded and served as chief executive in BioDiscovery Ltd, a company that invested in medical research in Australia. It was a joint venture by the Garvan Institute, the John Curtin School of Medical Research, the University of New South Wales and the CSIRO Division of Entomology. [1] : 110
Pucci served on the New South Wales Science and Technology Council from 1983 [7] to 1986 [8] and was appointed to the national Chemicals and Plastics Industries Council in 1984. [9] Pucci then served on the Australian Science and Technology Council from 1987 to 1989. [2] She has also served as director of the Dairy Research and Development Corporation and of Bio-Q Pty Ltd. [4]
Pucci is now a science writer, [2] author of "The Scientist: A Short Essay and Two Stories" which was published in the US. She then went on to write "DEVOLUTION: The Young Self in the Face of Technology", independently published on Amazon in 2018. [10]
Pucci received The Bulletin/Qantas Businesswoman of the Year for 1986. [11] In 1987, Pucci was made Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana, and in the same year an Eisenhower Fellow. In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Pucci was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for "service to the community, particularly in the field of biotechnology, and to industry". [12] She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 1990. [13] In 2003, Pucci received the Australian Federation Centenary Medal. [14]
Qantas Airways Limited, or simply Qantas, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and Oceania. A founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, it is the only airline in the world that flies to all seven continents, with it operating flights to Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America and South America from its hubs in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane. It also flies to over 60 domestic destinations across Australia.
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back to the 1870s. UTS is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network (ATN), and is a member of Universities Australia (UA) and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).
Lucinda Mary Turnbull is an Australian businesswoman, philanthropist, and former local government politician. She served on the Sydney City Council from 1999 to 2004, including as Lord Mayor of Sydney from 2003 to 2004 – the first woman to hold the position. She has since held positions on a number of urban planning bodies, including as chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission from 2015 to 2020. Her husband Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018.
John Shine is an Australian biochemist and molecular biologist. Shine and Lynn Dalgarno discovered a nucleotide sequence, called the Shine–Dalgarno sequence, necessary for the initiation of protein synthesis. He directed the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney from 1990 to 2011. From 2018 to 2022, Shine was President of the Australian Academy of Science.
The Eureka Prizes are awarded annually by the Australian Museum, Sydney, to recognise individuals and organizations who have contributed to science and the understanding of science in Australia. They were founded in 1990 following a suggestion by science journalist Robyn Williams.
Carla Maria Zampatti, was an Italian-born Australian fashion designer and businesswoman, and executive chair of the fashion label Carla Zampatti Limited.
Alan Joseph Joyce is an Irish-Australian businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Qantas Airways Limited from 2008 until his resignation in 2023. Joyce retired as CEO on 5 September 2023, with Vanessa Hudson succeeding him the following day.
Catherine Brighid Livingstone is an Australian businesswoman who has held positions in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CSIRO, Macquarie Bank, and Telstra.
John Stanley Mattick is an Australian molecular biologist known for his efforts to assign function to non-coding DNA. Mattick was the executive director of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research from 2012 to 2018. He joined Genomics England in May 2018 as chief executive officer. In October 2019, he joined the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
James Patrick Garvan was an Australian politician, Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales in 1889.
Michelle Yvonne Simmons is an Australian quantum physicist, recognised for her foundational contributions to the field of atomic electronics.
Emma Letitia Johnston is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydney. She was former, Dean of Science at the University of New South Wales and President of Science & Technology Australia. She is an authority in marine ecology and a former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at UNSW. From February 2025, she has been appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Peter Philip Gray is a bioengineer who has played a key role in the development of modern industrial biotechnology in Australia. He was professor and head of biotechnology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, from 1988–2003, and was the inaugural director of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia from 2003–2015.
Leanna Read is an Australian biotechnology expert and businessperson. She was the fourth Chief Scientist of South Australia from 2014 to 2018. She was appointed in August 2014 as successor to Don Bursill and is the first woman to hold the position.
David Henry Solomon is an Australian polymer chemist. He is best known for his work in developing Living Radical Polymerization techniques, and polymer banknotes.
Margaret Mary Sheil is an Australian academic and the Vice Chancellor of Queensland University of Technology.
Vicki Rubian Sara is an Australian endocrinologist, who specialises in research into growth hormones and foetal brain development.
Susan Margaret Pond is an Australian scientist and technologist, active in business and academia, and recognised for her contributions to medicine, biotechnology, renewable energy and sustainability. She is the current president of the Royal Society of New South Wales.
Qantas House is an Australian heritage-listed office building at 68–96 Hunter Street, Sydney. It was designed by Rudder, Littlemore & Rudder and built from 1955 to 1957 by Concrete Constructions Pty Ltd. It is also known as No. 1 Chifley Square. The site was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 May 2001.
Susan J. Clark is an Australian biomedical researcher in epigenetics of development and cancer. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2015, and is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellow and Research Director and Head of Genomics and Epigenetics Division at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Clark developed the first method for bisulphite sequencing for DNA methylation analysis and used it to establish that the methylation machinery of mammalian cells is capable of both maintenance and de novo methylation at CpNpG sites and showed is inheritable. Clark's research has advanced understanding of the role of DNA methylation, non-coding RNA and microRNA in embryogenesis, reprogramming, stem cell development and cancer, and has led to the identification of epigenomic biomarkers in cancer. Clark is a founding member of the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) and President of the Australian Epigenetics Alliance (AEpiA).
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