Australian scientist awarded Ig Nobel Prize for research that showed how to unboil an egg

zainab quadri

September 18, 2015 11:03 AM

An Australian scientist has been honoured with an Ig Nobel prize for creating a way to unboil an egg.

This may not sound like the most useful of scientific achievements.

But Chemistry professor Colin Raston from Flinders University in Adelaide built a machine which can unravel proteins.

The machine, which has been called a 'Vortex fluidic device (VFD)', works by unfolding the proteins in egg whites back to their natural state.

It has been hailed as a potential game-changer for the targeted delivery of chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment.

Professor Raston said: "It's living the dream. All scientists want to do something that is significant, but this has the wow factor. Winning an Ig is both humbling and amazing.”

Flinders University Vice-Chancellor Colin Stirling says Professor Raston’s research is already improving people’s lives.

“His VFD (is) boosting the potency of a common cancer drug fourfold — meaning better treatment with fewer side effects. And that’s just the start,” Professor Stirling Says.

The Igs Nobel Prize are intended to reward scientific advances that make people laugh — and think. So, each year, they track down the most unusual and imaginative research.

Despite the seemingly silly act of ‘unboiling’ an egg, this is actually a serious demonstration of a ground breaking new technology.

It’s a new way of doing chemistry that has implications for cancer treatments, pharmaceutical manufacturing and the processing of biofuels and foods.

The Ig Nobels are awarded annually at Harvard University in honour of scientific achievements that "make people laugh, then make them think".

Interested in how to unboil an egg? Watch the video below.

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