Impact Prizes

Each year, scientists from across the Institute come together for the annual Lab Talks symposium. As part of the event, the Institute presents several prizes in recognition of key successes over the past year.



The Sir Michael Berridge Prize celebrates the contributions of a PhD student or Postdoc to an outstanding piece of published research, whilst the Knowledge Exchange & Commercialisation, equality4success, Award for Commitment to Research Integrity, and Public Engagement Prizes are presented to scientists that have gone above and beyond to maximise the impact of their work. The prize winners are selected by judging panels including both internal and external representatives. Finally, the Image Prize for the best research image of the year is selected by a popular vote including all Institute members.

Sir Michael Berridge Prize

2025 Winner

The 2025 Sir Michael Berridge Prize was awarded to Yang Wang, a postdoc in the Rugg-Gunn lab. The prize recognises Yang’s development, over a period of nearly five years, of a new single cell multi-omic sequencing method, scMTR-seq, which provides unparalleled information on chromatin marks as well as collecting gene expression data. One of the objectives of the technique was that it could be applied to very limited samples, including embryos. 

The technique allows the chromatin state of a cell, particularly the combination of histone protein modifications, to be analysed with relevance to gene regulation and appropriate gene expression in cells. Being able to monitor changes in the chromatin state during development or disease is important for understanding underlying mechanisms regulating gene activity.

scMTR-seq, which stands for single-cell multitargets and mRNA sequencing, overcomes several limitations of current methods of detecting chromatin states in cells, being able to profile up to six histone modifications in single cells with high resolution, higher throughput and high cell recovery. The technique was described in a paper published in Science Advances in August 2025, which also described the application of the technique to uncover distinct epigenetic patterns in early cell lineages in mouse embryos for the first time.

Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) Prize

The Babraham Institute’s Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC) Prize recognises an individual or team who have contributed to the Institute's KEC activities, demonstrating their passion for generating impact and transferring their knowledge.

2025 Winner

Aljona Kolmogorova received the 2025 KEC Prize in recognition of her leadership and entrepreneurial success in advancing AmnioCam, a patented stem cell technology that was invented in Dr Maria Rostovskaya’s and Dr Peter Rugg-Gunn’s labs. Over the last year Aljona has successfully secured a range of competitive translational funding grants and places on translational accelerator programmes to drive forward the development of this technology.

2024 Winners

The Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Prize was awarded jointly to Richard, Named Information Manager, and Sarah, Experienced Animal Technician, for their leadership and work organising the Institute’s annual Animal Technician Conference. The conference supports career development, networking and best practice exchange for animal technicians.

2023 Winner

Dr Rachael Walker, Head of Flow Cytometry, was awarded the KEC prize for her outstanding sector leadership in the field of flow cytometry. Over the last year Rachael led the highly-successful Spectral Flow Cytometry Conference for its second consecutive year in July and spearheaded a significant and impactful programme of exchanges and placements between the Flow team and diverse academic and industry collaborators. Both initiatives has enabled a wide range of training and development opportunities for Institute and external staff. As a co-founder of the startup venture CytoCalx, Rachael's translational research focused towards developing a test to quantify vascular calcification have earnt the company a coveted place on the Accelerate@Babraham program.

Visit the Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Prize page to read about previous winners and nominees.

Public Engagement (PE) Prize

The Babraham Institute's Public Engagement Prize recognises an individual or team who have contributed to the Institute's public engagement and science communication activities, demonstrating their passion for science and enthusiasm and commitment to inspiring generations.

The nominations this year were judged by a review panel consisting of the Institute’s Public Engagement Team and external engagement professionals.

2025 Winners

The Biological Support Unit Team

The BSU were recognised for their collective efforts in being open and transparent about the use of animals in BI research. Through engaging the public at festival events, school tours, and even with a new 360 virtual tour, they have consistently shown commitment and innovation in public engagement. Their approach has shown a light on the people behind the work and enabled open conversations with the public about realities of working in the BSU.

“This is a great model of team-wide commitment to public engagement, using connected formats and approaches, to build public trust in an area where engagement really matters. The combination of online and in-person engagement allows for people to engage multiple times and more fully explore the topic.

It is good to see support mechanisms being used to enable staff led engagement projects to flourish and the impact of the engagement being used in reporting. Great work!” - Reviewer comments

2024 Winners

Jake Cross and Ellie Griffiths

“It is a brilliant example of how researchers can develop an innovative approach to engaging audiences with research! The enthusiasm they have shown in delivering the activity to multiple audiences is impressive as is the work they have both done to inspire and enable their peers to undertake public engagement”- external reviewer comment.

You can find out more about past winners on our Public Engagement Prize page.

Equity 4 Success Award

The equity4success award celebrates a group or individual, who is not a member of the e4s team, who has made a contribution towards equality, diversity and inclusion at the Institute.

2024 Winners

The 2024 equity4success Award went to Stephane Guillaume, PhD student in the Linterman lab, and Honor Pollard, Communications Officer. Stephane and Honor are Chair and Co-Chair of the Institute’s LGTBQ+ Network, Pride@Babraham, and were recognised for their work establishing the Network and creating a visibly inclusive and supportive community. 

2023 Winner

Oishee Rahman

Oishee was recognised for her work with One Million Mentors and Close the Gap to support first generation university students and postgraduates from minority backgrounds, and her role as the Ethnic Minority Welfare Officer at the Jesus College MCR. In additional, the award recognises Oishee's involvment with designing the guidelines to support Muslim staff at the Institute and organising Ramadan events this year.

The Award for Contributions to Research Integrity

The Award for Contributions to Research Integrity was been established to recognise, reward and highlight examples of good practice that have made a contribution across research excellence, research culture, ethics and data access.

2024 Winner

Dr Trevor Smith, Health and Safety and Quality Assurance Manager, for his long-term commitment to supporting research integrity, especially recognising that his knowledge and expertise were instrumental to embedding research integrity at the Institute, not least with undertaking reviews of research integrity to secure continued progress towards excellence in research integrity practices.

2023 Winners

Richard Acton, Data Outputs Manager

Richard is recognised for the contributions he has made to promote and enable research integrity for researchers, including developing guidance and pipelines for data sharing, championing reproducibility through protocol sharing mechanisms and developing training.

Cass Flowers, Chief Information Officer

Cass is recognised for her leadership and implementation of a far-reaching project to develop robust and compliant GDPR policies and procedures, with important improvements in data management practices across the Institute.

Emily Watson, Research Assistant

Emily is recognised for her proactive approach to research integrity, supporting her colleagues and making an important contribution to improving the scientific quality of research.

Image Prize

2025 Winner

View past winners and entries in the Image Prize gallery.