Professor Andrew Abell and Percy Charles Blewett
In 1918, Percy Charles Blewett received the Military Cross, which was awarded “for gallantry during active operations against the enemy” in WWI, after serving in the 49th Infantry Battalion.
More than a century later, this war hero’s grandsons still have many of his original diaries and documents from WWI, including a “Primary Examination” certificate from the University of Adelaide Public Examinations Board dated 1908.
The maternal grandson of Percy Blewett, Professor Andrew Abell, studied a BSc and PhD at the University of Adelaide and is now a Professor in the School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, as well as the Adelaide Node Director Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, and Group Leader of the Abell Group.
In addition to an extensive list of academic appointments, achievements and research activities spanning continents, he has been an innovator in the commercialisation of important research. With this combined skillset, he is dedicated to bringing discoveries made in the lab to the world, where they can have practical and sometimes life-changing applications.
“If we could come up with something that makes a difference for people, that would be the biggest achievement of all,” Professor Abell says. “I am not motivated about whether I’m making money or not. I’m much more interested in doing something that will make a difference.”
Throughout his career, Professor Abell’s research has seen him researching many diverse concepts and their applications, from HIV to cataracts and novel approaches to pain killers. As an experienced educator, he has taught countless undergraduates and supervised more than 250 PhD candidates, honours students and postdoctoral fellows.
“If we could come up with something that makes a difference for people, that would be the biggest achievement of all.”
However, when he was leaving high school, he was initially unsure of his future path. He first signed up to the School of Education at Flinders. “I didn’t even know what a University was… then I came down to the University of Adelaide for an open day. My eyes just opened up and I thought, ‘that’s where I’m going’. So I signed up. Until that point, no one in my family anywhere near the University. The only exception is my grandfather, who’s got that document.”
Despite the University certificate, we can't technically claim Percy as an alum of the University. The document is a certificate showing he passed exams in English History, Algebra and Geometry with the Public Examinations Board, alongside 547 other students who also passed. The Board was appointed in 1901 by the Council, and conducted exams for Preliminary, Primary, Junior, Senior, Higher, and Elementary Commercial certifications, with the Senior (matriculation) exam necessary for entry at the University. Members of the board included professors and lecturers of the arts and sciences faculties. In 1908, the 1,008 entrants in the Primary Examination hailed from all over South Australia and from Western Australia, which didn't have University of its own until 1911.
Percy would have been about 14 at the time he passed his exams at the University of Adelaide, just a few years younger than Professor Abell was when he changed tack and signed up for a Bachelor of Science here. He quickly began to realise that he was heading towards a career in chemistry. “I did well at maths and physics here, but I realised that’s not where my heart was for the longer term. The further I went with chemistry, the more interesting it became,” he recalls. His path started to become clearer. “I figured out it was science, the I figured out it was chemistry, then I figured out which part of chemistry.”
The part that particularly caught his interest was biological and organic chemistry. After excelling during his Honours year, Professor Abell took a holiday placement with CSIRO in Melbourne. He then completed a PhD back at the University of Adelaide, spending many long hours in the Badger Laboratories—the same building where he still has his office today.
His PhD led to two and a half years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, where he narrowed his focus even further. “That really opened my eyes,” he says. “I worked for one of the real giants in the area, Professor Sir Allan Battersby. I learnt so much and I really started to go more to the biological side of chemistry.”
Professor Abell then returned to the southern hemisphere, taking a job at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. After establishing his academic career there, much to the surprise of many of his university colleagues, he used a sabbatical to work for industry as a consultant and Fulbright Fellow in the United States. GlaxoSmithKlein in Philadelphia gave him his pick of projects when he arrived.
There, he interacted with and worked across all different disciplines—chemistry, biology, and medicine—and different commercial concepts like scale-up, synthesis, and patent law. “What that did was expose me to the commercial side [of science] and the possibilities associated with that,” says Professor Abell. “But I was still always motivated by fundamental science.”
That motivation continued to fuel his projects, which have included several research groups, first at Canterbury and then Adelaide, and collaborative ventures in the commercial space. One such commercial project, which continues today, focuses on new ways to treat pain.
“We have a normal way of treating neuropathic pain. Right now, if you get serious pain… you take opioids or you take antidepressants. The opportunities for treatments are very limited. They’re all addictive. So, we came up with a new way of selectively targeting neuropathic pain. Our drug is not active right through your whole body—it’s only specifically activated at the site of the oxidative stress associated with your passive pain.”
Having received National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and set up a company to explore and commercialise this application in America and across the globe, he now has bi-weekly Zoom meetings with other brilliant scientists who share his passion and drive. “We all get together and talk about and do science!”
Throughout his career, Professor Abell has remained motivated by this love for the fundamental science, and the way that working with people all over the world generates innovative applications for research that can make a real difference. “I much prefer working with people from different areas of discipline and bring those skills and expertise together so you can tackle a big problem. So, I’m motivated by collaboration,” he says. “The other thing I really like is interacting with people from different cultures and different countries.”
“I much prefer working with people from different areas of discipline and bring those skills and expertise together so you can tackle a big problem."
Professor Abell says that passion is one of the keys to success across any field, but particularly in science, when choosing your research path. “You’ve got to be passionate about it and you’ve got to be interested in the detail. You’ve got to get beyond the superficial stuff... But you’ve also got to keep your eyes and ears open for an opportunity, because it might not immediately be obvious to you.”
Today, after working around the world, starting multiple companies, making important discoveries, advancing research, and teaching many, many students, Professor Abell says his biggest legacy lies not in his own work, but rather in the knowledge he has been able to pass on to others. “I’ve been in the University environment since the early ‘80s. I like interacting with and educating young bright minds. My biggest legacy is all the people I’ve trained.”
"My biggest legacy is all the people I’ve trained.”
Back in 1908, when Percy Charles Blewett received his examination certificate from the University of Adelaide, he could not have known that the University would feature so heavily in the successful and impactful career of his grandson, or that Professor Abell would go on to impact so many lives through education.
Blewett's great-grandsons, Thomas Abell, Sam Abell and Curtis Abell have also graduated from the University in recent years, in the areas of music, engineering and physics, respectively.