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.
2023 Winner
The Sir Michael Berridge Prize was endowed by Sir Michael who was a group leader at the Institute from 1990 until 2004, after which he was appointed the Institute’s first Emeritus Babraham Fellow, a position he held until his death in February 2020. Dr Tamara Chessa was awarded the Sir Michael Berridge Prize for her publication in Molecular Cell “PLEKHS1 drives PI3Ks and remodels pathway homeostasis in PTEN-null prostate” (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2023.07.015 ). The paper identifies new components of the PI3K signalling network that represent potential vulnerabilities and targets for drug development to keep cancer cell growth in check.
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.
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.
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.
Amy Wilkinson Amy received the award for work bringing together artists, scientists and the public in a SciArt project and for contributions to a public dialogue project, both associated with the Human Developmental Biology Initiative. The dialogue saw Amy discussing embryo research in a series of public workshops aiming to generate an up-to-date knowledge base in regard to the public's hopes and fears around the regulations governing such research, in particular the 14-day rule which sets the duration that embryos can be cultured in a lab for research purposes. “Amazing to see a PhD student thinking about PE in this deliberative two-way format. The impact of this work on future policy direction is clear, as is the real value Amy is taking from it and into her work!” - External judge.
Highly Commended Hanane Hadj-Moussa Hanane was commended in recognition of her long-term dedication to PE. Hanane supports the Institute's PE programme strategically as part of the PE committee as well as being actively involved in most aspects of events whether focused at school audiences or wider communities. Hanane has also championed PE beyond the Institute through her work with the Cambridge Science Centre to engage audiences across the region with science. "A real PE superstar! Clear recognition of the importance of including PE in her work and dedication shown through seeking out opportunities beyond the Institute. A real example for others to look to." - External judge.
Nominees The Schoenfelder lab - nominated for the development of the 3D genome VR experience. Ellie Griffiths and Jake Cross - nominated for their efforts in creating the Big Autophagy Obstacle Course.
You can find out more about past winners on our Public Engagement Prize page.
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.
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 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.
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.
Aurora Xu
An image of the Drosophila gut, the structure that is equivalent to the human small intestine. Cells were stained for DAPI (marks the nucleus in blue) and phosphorylated Mad (pMad, marked in white), which is the transcription factor that becomes phosphorylated upon Dpp (the Drosophila BMP) pathway activation. The Dpp pathway forms gradients in the fly gut to maintain its tissue patterning and homeostasis.
View past winners and entries in the Image Prize gallery.