Dr. Tobias Renahan (né Theska) was awarded the PhD prize 2024 of the Reinhold and Maria Teufel Foundation. Using an approach that combined modern morphometrics, biostatistics, functional genetics, and bioinformatics, he elucidated the genetic processes which facilitated the evolution of novel feeding structures in predatory nematodes. The award ceremony took place in Tuttlingen on October 16th, where he gave a presentation on behalf of the awardees in the biology section. Dr. Renahan is now employed as a postdoctoral researcher in the joint “AI & Data Science” fellowship program of Boehringer Ingelheim and the University of Tübingen.
Dr. Mohannad Dardiry was awarded the Ph.D. prize 2023 of the Reinhold and Maria Teufel Foundation. The work of Dr. Daridiry significantly added to our understanding of plastic traits' evolution in a natural variants context. He investigated the proximate and ultimate causes behind the evolution of mouth-form plasticity in the nematode genus Prsitionchus. Dr. Dardiry is now employed as a postdoctoral EIPOD fellow at EMBL, DBU, Heidelberg, Germany.
Dr. Tess Renahan has been awarded the PhD prize 2022 of the Reinhold and Maria Teufel Foundation. Using nematodes as model organisms, Renahan significantly advanced our understanding of the complex dynamics between different species and how their interactions influence development. The award ceremony took place on July 13 at the University of Tübingen.
Dr. James Lightfoot was awarded the Academy Award 2022 of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanity. Dr. Lightfoot was recognized for his scientific findings on how a predatory nematode species is able to recognize its own offspring and kin. This turned out to be dependent on a small peptide that provides an identification signal. Dr. Lightfoot is currently leading a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behaviour – caesar, Bonn, Germany.
Dr. Bogdan Sieriebriennikov was awarded the Otto Hahn Medal by the Max Planck Society 2021 for the identification and characterisation of the first gene regulatory network controlling developmental plasticity. Dr. Sieriebriennikov is now employed as postdoctoral fellow at New York University, Department of Biology, NY, USA.
Mohannad Dardiry was awarded the Gwinner Award at the 15th annual meeting of the Ethological Society in 2020. This prize is given every year to acknowledge and reward outstanding scientific presentations of excellent early-career researchers. The award is named after Prof. Eberhard Gwinner (1938–2004), who conducted pioneering work in the field of Behavioral Biology. He was deeply dedicated to animal science and, for instance, created the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (Germany).
Dr. Manuela R. Kieninger was awarded the Otto-Hahn medal 2016 by the Max Planck Society for the first demonstration of molecular and genetic switch mechanisms regulating phenotypic plasticity in animals. She is now employed at the Gurdon Institute, Cambridge University, UK.
Dr. Vladislav Susoy was awarded the Ph.D. prize of the Reinhard and Maria Teufel Stiftung 2016 for his demonstration of the macro-evolutionary potential of phenotypic plasticity using mouth-form diversity in nematodes as case study. Dr. Susoy is now employed at the Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.
Dr. Xiaoyue Wang was awarded the Otto-Hahn medal by the Max Planck Society 2012 for the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying vulva induction in Pristionchus pacificus and the demonstration of “developmental systems drift” as a general principle underlying the evolution of developmental processes. Dr. Wang is employed now at the Molecular Health GmbH, Heidelberg.
