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SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Awards

The SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Award honors the best presentation at the Graduate Student Excellence symposium, which provides a forum for young investigators to showcase their exemplary research at the annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE).

Eligibility

Current graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who received their primary doctoral-level degree no earlier than one year prior to the start of the annual meeting of the society (minus any career disruption or delay). A candidate for the award must become a member of the Society at least a month before the first day of the annual meeting. Approximately eight winners will be selected every year to cover the broad spectrum of research covered by SMBE.

2023 Winners

Aurora Alvarez-Buylla
Stanford University, USA
Dealing with a deadly diet: toxin binding proteins in poison frogs

Margaux Aubel
University of Münster, Germany
Comparing de novo emerged proteins with their unevolved random-sequence counterparts

Carmina Barberena-Jonas
Unidad de Genómica Avanzada (UGA), Mexico
Analyzing IBD Segments in the MX Biobank to track the Genetic Structure of Mexico Through Time

Carlos R. Cortez-Romero
University of Chicago, USA
Simple mechanisms for the evolution of heterospecificity in the hemoglobin complex

Marianne Dehasque
Stockholm University/ Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sweden
Temporal dynamics of woolly mammoth genome erosion prior to extinction

Ujani Hazra
Georgia Tech, USA
Differences in disease burdens across human populations are governed more by neutral evolution than by recent polygenic selection

Harvinder Pawar
Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC)
Ghost admixture in eastern gorillas

Matteo Sebastianelli
University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Genome-wide association study reveals the polygenic nature of rhythm in a wild non-passerine bird

Kai Yan
Kunming Institute of Zoology, China
Modification of Maternally Defined H3K4me3 Regulates the Inviability of Interspecific Xenopus Hybrids

Award Information

Eligibility: Current graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who received their primary doctoral-level degree no earlier than one year prior to the start of the annual meeting of the society (minus any career disruption or delay). A candidate for the award must become a member of the Society at least a month before the first day of the annual meeting. Approximately eight winners will be selected every year to cover the broad spectrum of research covered by SMBE.

Application Requirements:

  • An abstract (250 word max) for the proposed presentation.
  • A Curriculum Vitae.

Application: Via the abstract submission system for the annual meeting for which the award applies.

Contest: A committee convened by the SMBE Council will choose eight finalists from among the applications. Each selected finalist will present a 15-minute talk in the SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Awards Symposium at the annual meeting. All finalists will receive a $500 award.

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