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2023 Prize Lectures

22 March 2024
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Howard Lecture 2024

In Michaelmas term 2023 we welcomed our Thesis and Howard prize winners to Durham: Dr Katy Cornish (Durham University) and Dr Yuval Elani (Imperial College London).

Howard Lecture and Thesis Prize

In late November 2023, we welcomed Dr Yuval Elani (Imperial College) to Durham to present the Judith Howard Lecture (image above). His talk "Building a new biology: design and construction of synthetic cells" was the latest in this series of lectures that celebrate world-leading early to mid-career academics working in the biophysical sciences from anywhere in the world.

Dr Yuval Elani is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Lecturer (Asst. Professor) in the Department of Chemical Engineering, where he leads the Bioinspired Engineering Group. Yuval is an expert in synthetic biology, bio-membrane engineering, opto- / microfluidics, and molecular bioengineering.

Thesis Prize

Our 2023 Thesis Prize was presented to Dr Katy Cornish at our Christmas Lunchtime Seminar (image below). Her talk “Fantastic proteins and where to find them” gave a tour of her work as part of the Virus-X consortium. This project explored extreme conditions and collected samples of previously unknown microbes, otherwise known as microbial dark-matter.

Katy’s work on the structure of the key target CPR-C4 from Candidate Phyla Radiation, revealed a remarkable structural similarity to human vasohibin proteins unsuspected from the sequence alone.

 

BSI Thesis Prize 2023

 

Nominations for the 2024-2025 Prize Speakers 

Howard Prize 

Please forward the name and institution link of nominees to Professor Steven Cobb, BSI Director, at: bsi.director@durham.ac.uk. 

Nominations, including self nominations, are welcome from all areas of biophysical sciences. 

Closing Date: 31 May 2024

Find out more 

 

Thesis Prize 

To make a nomination for the 2024-2025 Thesis Prize please send the following to bsi.manager@durham.ac.uk. Nominations are typically made by the nominees supervisor. 

  • Nominees for 2024-2025 must submit their thesis at Durham University between June 2023 and June 2024. 
  • A large portion of the nominee's research must be cross-disciplinary at the boundaries between the life sciences and other physical sciences including mathematical sciences and engineering. 
  • The prize consists of a £500 payment and prize certificate and the awardee will be invited to speak at a BSI event. 

Find out more