A biomolecular scientist whose work has been hailed as more impressive than the moon landing has played down the praise, saying he is just happy to have helped people walk on the earth.
A Queensland finalist in the Australian of the Year award, Professor Alan Mackay-Sim has spent his career looking at the regenerative properties of stem cells and how they can be used to repair damaged spinal cords.
His clinical trials in 2002 played a key role in the world's first successful restoration of mobility in a quadriplegic man in 2014.
British professor Geoffrey Raisman, who was part of the surgery that allowed paralysed Polish firefighter Darek Fidyka to walk again, said the outcome was "more impressive than man walking on the moon".
Prof Mackay-Sim deflected that sentiment, saying the work was part of a team effort.
However, he hopes his Australian of the Year nomination raises awareness of the issue, and of scientific research in general.
"It raises the issue of disability in the community and it raises the issue of science and the importance of scientific research to advance clinical therapies," Prof Mackay-Sim told AAP.
"It also raises the issues of, yes, this can be done in Australia, we don't have to wait for someone to do the science overseas and we pick it up."
Prof Mackay-Sim is one of the four finalists for the Queensland awards that will lead to a state representative at January's Australian of the Year Awards.
Also nominated is world-renowned humanitarian Dr Nora Amath, occupational therapist Michael Lyddiard - who as a severely wounded veteran has helped rehabilitate other soldiers - and human rights lawyer Aimee McVeigh.
The finalists for Young Queenslander of the Year are Elijah Douglas, an indigenous teenage youth worker, Sharrel O'Brien, who provides free legal advice to domestic violence victims, 17-year-old inventor Taj Panbari and multilingual mathematician Ivan Zelich.
The winners of the Queensland awards will be announced on Wednesday night.
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