Westerdijk Award
The KNVM/NVMM science committee awards up to three prizes for the best PhD-thesis, one each in the categories “general microbiology”, “medical microbiology”, or “environmental microbiology”. Candidates, who are active society members as for example indicated by membership and previous attendance of the Scientific Spring Meeting, should submit their PhD-thesis conducted at a Dutch university, on condition that it was defended less than a year before the deadline of this call. The prizes are awarded annually during the KNVM/NVMM Scientific Spring Meeting. The jury consists of members of the KNVM/NVMM science committee. Please send your application to secretariaat@nvmm.nl containing the following documents:
- A PDF of the PhD thesis
- A note of which category the thesis should be evaluated in (general microbiology /medical microbiology /environmental microbiology)
- An overview of which chapters are published/under consideration in a scientific journal, and the journal’s name
- Information on KNVM/NVMM membership and poster/oral presentations by the PhD student at NVMM/KNVM symposia and conferences during the PhD
Submission deadline: 13 December 2024
The prizes, which were first awarded in 2009, are named after Johanna Westerdijk. She was the first female professor in the Netherlands at the University of Utrecht in 1917. She was director of the phytopathology laboratory Willie Commelin Scholten and showed that elm disease (generally known as Dutch elm disease) was caused by the fungus Ceratocystis ulmi.
Awardees
2024
- Pengfei Li Tackling emerging viral diseases with epidemic potential
- Heike Becker Microbial perturbations in Crohn’s disease
- Sergio Tomas Martinez Extracellular polymeric substances of Vandidatus Accumulibacter; composition, application and turnover
2023
- Georg Wolff Cellular cryo-tomography of nidovirus replication organelles
- Quinten Ducarmon Microbiome-mediated colonization resistance: defense against enteropathogens and multi-drug resistant organisms
2022
- Robert A. Schmitz Metabolic versatility of verrrucomicrobial methanotrophs
- Laura E. de Vries Steepen the Curve, the potential of pantothenamides in malaria control
- Dennis J. Doorduijn How complement forms pores in bacterial membranes
2021
- Michiel in 't Zandt Microbial methane cycling in a warming world
2020
- Dani Heesterbeek How complement kills bacteria
- Charlotte Melia Endomembrane mutiny: how picornaviruses hijack host organelles to support their replication
- Arthur Gorter de Vries Genome analysis and engineering of industrial lager brewing yeasts
2019
- Maarten Verhoeven Novel genetic parts and cultivation strategies for yeast-based conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks
- Anne Voor in ’t Holt Risk factors and transmission of healthcare-related pathogens
- N.W.M. de Jong Immune evasion by Staphylococcus aureus: expanding the repertoire
2017
- Robert van de Weerd Mysteries beyond the mycomembrane
- Manouk Vrieling Host adaptation of staphylococcal leukocidins
- Daan Speth Metagenomics of microbial communities involved in nitrogen cycling
2016
- Muriel van Tesseling Cell biology of anammox Planctomycetes and methanotrophic Verrucomicrobia: the cell envelope of anammox Planctomycetes
- András Spaan Staphylococal leukocidin receptor identification: hiding in plain sight
2015
- Lilly Verhagen Respiratory infections in Venezuelan children: interplay between host, pathogen and environment
- Walter Bronkhorst Small RNA-based antiviral defense in insects
2014
- Edze Westra Adaptive & Heritable Immunity in Bacteria - On the Regulation and Mechanism of CRISPR defense
2013
- Maria Daleke Tail(or)-made protein secretion in pathogenic mycobacteria
2012
- Marne Hagemeijer Dynamics of the Coronavirus replicative structures
2011
- Katharina Ettwig Nitrite-dependent methane oxidation
2010
- Corine Geurts van Kessel Division of labor between dendritic cell subsets in the lung during influenza virus infection
2009
- Marieke Emonts Polymorphisms in immune response genes in infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases