Audiences at Science Gallery Melbourne explored the future of stem cell medicine through an in-conversation between acclaimed Australian artist Patricia Piccinini and reNEW CEO Professor Melissa Little, an international pioneer in regenerative therapies for kidney disease, on Saturday 15 August.
reNEW CEO Professor Melissa Little has been awarded Research Australia’s Peter Wills Medal at Research Australia’s 2026 Health and Medical Research Awards in Sydney.
The Peter Wills Medal is the flagship award of Research Australia, recognising an outstanding long-term contribution to building Australia’s international reputation in health and medical research and fostering collaboration for better health.
“As a member of the Health and Medical Research Strategic Review chaired by Peter Wills, it is a great honour to receive an award in his name,” said Professor Little.
“Seeing the passion Peter Wills had for the sector motivated me to remain actively involved in advocating for medical research and showed me how critical it is to engage the wider community in what we do.”
Professor Melissa Little AC FRS is an internationally recognised leader in developmental biology and regenerative medicine. Her work has transformed our understanding of kidney development and thus enabled new approaches to studying and treating chronic kidney disease, a global health challenge affecting 850 million people and contributing significantly to premature death and disability.
Over three decades, Professor Little has defined the genetic and cellular programs underpinning kidney formation. This deep understanding enabled a pivotal advance in the creation of kidney organoids: three-dimensional, self-organising models that recapitulate key features of the human kidney. These models are now widely used internationally to study kidney development, disease mechanisms and drug responses. Professor Little’s work uses kidney organoids to advance the development of increasingly complex kidney tissue for cellular therapies.
Professor Little has coupled discovery with translation. As CEO of reNEW, she is leading an international consortium developing stem cell-based therapies for a range of diseases and conditions, advancing these treatments towards large-scale clinical application and addressing the long-standing lack of effective therapies.
Professor Little has also demonstrated leadership at national and international levels, serving as President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research, and as a member of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research Committee.
MCRI Director Professor Kathryn North AC who led Professor Little’s nomination for the award and received the same award in 2019, congratulated her on the achievement.
“Melissa’s work is widely recognised as transformative in both scientific and clinical contexts and spans discovery, science, platform technologies, translation, and national and international research leadership,” she said. “I was delighted to see Melissa’s achievements honoured with this award.”
