PhD Students Receive Reinhold and Maria Teufel Stiftung Prize
Two outstanding theses from Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen have been honoured with the prestigious award
The Reinhold and Maria Teufel Stiftung recognises exceptional scientific achievements in biology.
The Reinhold and Maria Teufel Stiftung has announced the recipients of its annual prize for outstanding PhD theses in biology. This year, out of nine awards granted, two went to former PhD students from the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen for outstanding PhD theses in biology.
Dr. Liam Fitzstevens, a former Department of Microbiome Science member (the Ley Lab), received the prize for his thesis titled "Human gut microbes’ transmission, persistence and contribution to lactose tolerance." He is now a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Jeffrey Gordon's Laboratory of the Department of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
"I am very honored to receive this award. It reflects not only me, but the scientific expertise and generous spirit of the Ley Lab, who played an instrumental role in making my thesis and defense presentation what they were."
Dr. Tobias Renahan, a former member of the Department of Integrative Evolutionary Biology (the Sommer Lab), was also awarded the prize for his thesis titled "Disentangling the Evolution of a Developmental Switch Network that Regulates Phenotypic Plasticity in a Morphological Novelty: a Nematode Evo-Devo Perspective." You can watch his presentation at the award ceremony here. Dr. Renahan is now a postdoctoral researcher in the joint "AI & Data Science" fellowship program of Boehringer Ingelheim and the University of Tübingen.
