Hassan Salem selected as EMBO Young Investigator

Hassan Salem, Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biology, is selected as part of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) - Young Investigator Programme.
 

EMBO announces 26 life scientists as the newest members of the Young Investigator Programme. The initiative supports excellent young group leaders in the early stages of their independent careers. Awardees are granted 15,000 euros in the second year of their tenure and can apply for additional grants of up to 10,000 euros per year. EMBO Young Investigators have access to a wide range of benefits, including networking opportunities, training in leadership skills and responsible research practices, support for laboratory members, and access to core facilities at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).

Together with members of his research group, Salem aims to understand how microbes facilitate adaptation in animals, focusing primarily on insects and their simple partnerships with bacteria and fungi. Through a combination of molecular techniques and field studies, his laboratory previously discovered the key roles symbionts play in digestive and defensive abilities of beetles, Earth’s most diverse animal group.

Hassan Salem carried out his undergraduate studies in Biology at Earlham College, Indiana, USA, followed by a Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany. With support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Smithsonian Institution, he conducted his postdoctoral training at Emory University in Georgia, USA, with Nicole Gerardo, followed by a research stay at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, Germany. He started his laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Germany, in March 2020.