National prize for WA fossil expert
A Curtin University fossil expert has won one of the prestigious Prime Minister's Prizes for Science, for research that rewrote the history of our early vertebrate ancestors.
Katherine Trinajstic's studies of the 'Gogo fish' fossils from the Kimberley Ranges showed that primitive fish were giving birth to live offspring as much as 380 million years ago, far earlier than previously thought.
Her studies of the ancient fossils were so detailed that she was able to see the remnants of an umbilical cord and tiny embryos within the body of one of the female fossils.
The discovery proved that primitive fish had evolved sexual intercourse and live birth by the time that vertebrates first began to make their way out of the sea and onto land.
Dr Trinajstic was awarded the $50,000 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year by federal science minister Kim Carr in Canberra yesterday.
Senator Carr said Dr Trinajstic had "virtually dissected" the fossils using high-tech imaging techniques, and that her studies of the fossil record would also help to identify new oil and gas reserves.
Dr Trinajstic first began working with the Gogo fossils while volunteering at the WA Museum, and later completed a PhD at UWA.
Her research has also shown that the Gogo fossils contain the preserved remnants of muscle tissue and blood vessels as well as bones, shedding yet more light on their biology.
She and her team at Curtin University used medical imaging technology to examine the fossils down to a resolution of just two thousandths of a millimetre.
The team is now looking even more closely in an attempt to deduce the molecular makeup of the Gogo fishes' muscles and other tissues. This would reveal the amount of biological similarity between the primitive fish and their ancestors, such as modern fish and land vertebrates such as humans.
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