The Young Scientist Award Session (YSAS) Winners 2025
The Young Scientist Award Session (YSAS) is a regular highlight at the SEB Annual Conference.
It offers a platform for postgraduates and postdocs who have completed their PhDs within the last five years to showcase their research. This session is designed to celebrate the most exceptional young researchers, with three prizes available, one for each scientific section: Animal, Cell and Plant. Cash prizes are awarded to the winners and two runners-up in each category.
Young Scientist Award Session (YSAS) 2025 - Animal
Animal Section :
Winner: Patrícia Ferreira (University of Porto)
Patrícia Ferreira is a comparative physiologist with BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Porto (Portugal) and a PhD from Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada). Her research primarily focuses on the evolution and function of the stomach in vertebrates. Recently, she generated the first fish knockout line for the gastric proton pump that is responsible for stomach acidification. This genetic line allowed her to explore the physiological and metabolic importance of the vertebrate stomach and associated acid-peptic digestion, highlighting its role in growth, energy and digestion. Her work integrates molecular biology techniques with evolutionary physiology, contributing to our understanding of organ function and adaptation in vertebrates.
Young Scientist Award Session (YSAS) 2025 - Plant
Plant Section :
Winner: Caitlin Dudley (The University of Queensland)
Caitlin Dudley is a fourth-year PhD student currently conducting plant physiology research within agricultural and model plant species.
Her research focuses on utilizing various technologies and methodologies to gain a deeper understanding of the physiological and molecular mechanisms that underpin and regulate flowering in legumes.
Caitlin is particularly interested in translating knowledge of flowering in fundamental species to contribute to the development of sustainable agricultural systems, which have economic and social benefits to growers.
Young Scientist Award Session (YSAS) 2025 - Cell
Cell Section :
Winner: Manuel González-Fuente (Ruhr-University of Bochum)
Postdoctoral researcher in the Plant Cell Biology Group at the Ruhr-University of Bochum (Germany) studying the role of the RNA decay machinery in plant defense, and how certain bacterial effectors can modulate it.