The successful introduction of the 2018 Pharmabiotics Young Investigator Awards set the stage for its development as one of the most important and prestigious awards for young microbiome researchers.
Co-initiated by the Pharmabiotic Research Institute (PRI) and Institut Mérieux through its affiliate Biofortis Mérieux NutriSciences, an award of €10,000 is allocated to a young clinician or academic, working within the field of Microbiotic Medicinal Products.
“Institut Merieux launched the Pharmabiotics Young Investigators Award, in collaboration with the PRI, aiming to provide a €10,000 incentive for promising young researchers who have made significant achievements in the field of the microbiota, a field which is greatly aligned with our strategic priorities,”
said Marc Bonneville, VP of Scientific and Medical Affairs at Institut Merieux.
The PRI is very happy to support this YIA initiative as it clearly matches one of our main objectives: bringing together industry and academia in order to achieve scientific goals related to a better understanding of the microbiota and in investigating ways to modify it in a therapeutic or prophylactic way,
said Pr. Bruno Pot, President of the PRI’s Board of Directors.
In 2018, an independent expert committee was selected from the PRI’s extensive network of human microbiota thought leaders to review the 23 applications, which were commented to have demonstrated an exceptionally high quality of scientific research. Applicants were scored on several criteria, including originality, industrial applicability, contribution to our understanding of health implications or mechanism of action, amongst others.
The committee consisted of:
- Laurent Rios (Vet-Agro SUP)
- Siobhain O’Mahony (University College Cork)
- Ana Palmeira de Oliveira (Universidade da Beira Interior)
- Sarah Lebeer (University of Antwerp)
- Pascal Ferre (Sorbonne Université)
- Christophe Lacroix (ETH Zurich)
The three highest scoring finalists, namely, Megan Rossi (King’s College London), Sylvie Miquel (Université d’Auvergne) and Laure Bindels (Université Catholique de Louvain), were invited to provide an oral presentation of their research at the PRI’s annual Pharmabiotics Conference & Partnering event in Paris, in front of a large number of prominent R&D Executives, Academics and senior decision-makers from internationally leading microbiome and pharmaceutical organisations.
Laure Bindels was announced as the Laureate of the Pharmabiotics 2018 Young Investigator Award at the evening ceremony for her ambitious work on the gut microbiota as a therapeutic target in cancer cachexia.
Commenting on the process and the importance of the award, Dr. Bindels said
As the scientist who was awarded the Pharmabiotics YIA, I felt recognized for my work and supported in my scientific projects. The application process was scientifically very stimulating and my presentation at Pharmabiotics Conference & Partnering was a great opportunity to share my past achievements. As a recently-appointed PI, the award will be crucial to perform key experiments with my new research team.
Applications for The Pharmabiotics 2019 Young Investigator Awards are Now Open
If you are a young researcher working in the field of the human microbiota, make sure to apply for the 2019 Pharmabiotics YIA Awards here – Application Deadline is 12/01/2019.