Society Showcase, AGM and Young Microbiologist of the Year competition - a view from Twitter

Posted on September 17, 2018   by Kaisa Berg

The Sir Howard Dalton Young Microbiologist of the Year competition took place on 6 September during the Society Showcase and AGM. We’ve turned to Twitter to look at some of the highlights of the day.

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The day started with a networking session for the Early Career Microbiologists' Forum, followed by the Society Showcase where three great speakers shared what they wish they had known when starting their careers in microbiology.

After the Society Showcase it was time for the Sir Howard Dalton Young Microbiologist of the Year Competition. Eight finalists from the Virology, Eukaryotic, Prokaryotic and Irish divisions gave 15-minute presentations in front of an appreciative audience. Read the individual profiles of the finalists to learn more about them.

Laura Caller kicked off the competition with her talk 'Identifying protein activities essential for efficient BK polyomavirus replication through quantitative temporal viromics (QTV) and cell cycle inhibition.'

Rute Maria Pinto from the Virology Division and Freddy Bunbury from the Eukaryotic Division were the second and third speakers.

Cathy Abberton talked about 'Development of  a novel antimicrobial for the treatment of bovine mastitis.'

There was widespread admiration for the high level of the talks given.

Katherine Dadswell's talk was called 'Ethanolamine metabolism during urinary tract infections.'

Next up was Courtney Kousser with 'Pseudomonas aeruginosa inhibits Rhizopus microsporus germination through sequestration of free environmental iron.'

Stephen Dolan finished off the competition with his talk 'Knowing the enemy: how does Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulate carbon flux through its glyoxylate shunt?'

After the competition, it was time for Microbiology Outreach Prize winner Senga Robertson‐Albertyn to hold her talk: 'Microbe Motels – How to make a healthy poo.'

Congratulations to Courtney Kousser who was pronounced the winner of the Sir Howard Dalton Young Microbiologist of the Year competition at the evening reception.

You can watch our interview with her here:

We were pleased to hear some lovely feedback in the aftermath of the event.

Thank you to everyone who came, all the speakers and congratulations to all the finalists in the Sir Howard Dalton Young Microbiologist of the Year competition.