SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Awards
The SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Award honors the best presentation at the Graduate Student Excellence symposium, which provides a forum for young investigators to showcase their exemplary research at the annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE).
Eligibility
Current graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who received their primary doctoral-level degree no earlier than one year prior to the start of the annual meeting of the society (minus any career disruption or delay). A candidate for the award must become a member of the Society at least a month before the first day of the annual meeting. Approximately eight winners will be selected every year to cover the broad spectrum of research covered by SMBE.
2025 Winners
| Huangyi He, Zhejiang University, China | Insights into the Development of Multiple Sperm Types and Evolving Sex Chromosomes in Drosophila Species |
| Philipp Hummer, Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Austria | How museomics can be used to reveal whether insect genomes experienced recent anthropogenic changes |
| Jacky Kaiyuan Li, UC Berkeley, USA | Estimating Effective Population Size from ARGs: An EM-Based Approach Incorporating Coalescent Time Uncertainty |
| Gemma I. Martínez-Redondo, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Spain | The march to land: unearthing how gene repertoire evolution triggered terrestrialization across the Animal Tree of Life |
| Alba Nieto, SYEB, EPHE, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, MNHN, IRD, CNRS, France | The impact of population substructure on SMC-based inference tools analyzed through extensive demographic simulations on spatially complex demographic models |
| Aidan Short, University of South Carolina, USA | The genomic outcomes of hybridization vary over time within a monkeyflower radiation |
| Dylan Sosa, Department of Ecology & Evolution, University of Chicago, USA | Conflict and regulatory innovation through eukaryotic tRNA repertoire expansion |
| Hannah Verdonk, Temple University, USA | A fresh approach for estimating selection on synonymous codons |
2024 Winners
| Christopher Blake, Monash University, Australia | Evolutionary shift of a tipping point forestalls collapse in a microbial community |
| Sung-Ya Lin, University of Pennsylvania, USA | Rapid coevolution preserves the epigenetic establishment of telomere protection |
| Meaghan Marohn, University of California, USA | Revisiting the evolution of lactase persistence: insights from South Asian genomes |
| Benjamin M. Moran, Stanford University, USA | A lethal mitonuclear incompatibility in complex I of natural hybrids |
| María José Palma Martínez, Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Mexico | Beyond Continental Groups: Unveiling Dynamic Human Genetic Communities with a Novel Network Analysis Pipeline |
| Jaison Jeevan Sequeira, Department of Applied Zoology, India | The provenance of Proto-North Dravidian ancestry in the Indus valley |
| Siliang Song, University of Michigan, USA | Human sex ratio at birth has virtually no detectable genetic variation: Was Fisher wrong about the evolution of sex ratio? |
| Bárbara Sousa da Mota, University of Lausanne, Switzerland | Investigating the ecological suicide (“ecocide”) theory in Rapa Nui with ancient DNA data |
| Mariela Tenorio, CCG, UNAM, Mexico | MAYEX is an ancient long non-coding RNA recruited for X chromosome dosage compensation in lizards |
2023 Winners
| Aurora Alvarez-Buylla, Stanford University, USA | Dealing with a deadly diet: toxin binding proteins in poison frogs |
| Margaux Aubel, University of Münster, Germany | Comparing de novo emerged proteins with their unevolved random-sequence counterparts |
| Carmina Barberena-Jonas, Unidad de Genómica Avanzada (UGA), Mexico | Analyzing IBD Segments in the MX Biobank to track the Genetic Structure of Mexico Through Time |
| Carlos R. Cortez-Romero, University of Chicago, USA | Simple mechanisms for the evolution of heterospecificity in the hemoglobin complex |
| Marianne Dehasque, Stockholm University / Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sweden | Temporal dynamics of woolly mammoth genome erosion prior to extinction |
| Ujani Hazra, Georgia Tech, USA | Differences in disease burdens across human populations are governed more by neutral evolution than by recent polygenic selection |
| Harvinder Pawar, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC) | Ghost admixture in eastern gorillas |
| Matteo Sebastianelli, University of Cyprus, Cyprus | Genome-wide association study reveals the polygenic nature of rhythm in a wild non-passerine bird |
| Kai Yan, Kunming Institute of Zoology, China | Modification of Maternally Defined H3K4me3 Regulates the Inviability of Interspecific Xenopus Hybrids |
2022 Winners
| Agneesh Barua, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, Okinawa, Japan | The evolutionary origins of venom: How nature created the perfect chemical weapon |
| Diana Cruz Dávalos, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland & Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland | Indigenous peoples in eastern Brazil: insights from 19th century genomes and metagenomes |
| Robert Driver, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA | Dynamic evolution of olfactory receptor repertoires across avian ecology and phylogeny |
| Steven Fiddaman, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom | Archaeological samples reveal the origins of extreme virulence in Marek’s disease virus |
| Christopher Kyriazis, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA | Genomic underpinnings of population persistence in Isle Royale moose |
| Jacob Steenwyk, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA | Genes of a feather evolve together: how gene coevolution provides insight into cellular and genomic structure and function |
| Jessica Warren, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA | Loss and integration: tracing the functional replacement of mitochondrial tRNA genes |
| Caroline Weisman, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA | Lineage-specific genes: novelty or noise? |
2021 Winners
| Catarina Branco, Biomedical Research Center (CINBIO), University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain. Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Immunology, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain | Influence of the Last Glacial Period on the genetic diversity of current Southeast Asians |
| Ian Vasconcellos Caldas, Department of Computational Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA | Inferring selective sweep parameters through supervised learning |
| Alida de Flamingh, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA | Sourcing Elephant Ivory from a Sixteenth-Century Portuguese Shipwreck |
| Michelle P Harwood, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Recombination and population demographics impact allele-specific-expression of deleterious variants in human populations |
| Amanda Kowalczyk, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA | Pan-mammalian analysis of molecular constraints underlying extended lifespan in mammals |
| Yeonwoo Park, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA | Historical memory, epistasis, and contingency in long-term protein evolution |
| Thea F. Rogers, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom | Sex-specific selection drives the evolution of alternative splicing in birds |
| Mengyi Sun, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA | Preferred synonymous codons are more accurately translated: proteomic evidence, among-species variation, and mechanistic basis |
2020 Winners
| Malgorzata Gazda, CIBIO, University of Porto, Vairão, Portugal | A generic mechanism for sexual dichromatism in birds |
| Elora López, Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, United States | Within-colony variation and the heritability of somatic mutations in clonal, colonial corals |
| Alina G. Mikhaylova, Center for Mitochondrial Functional Genomics, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russian Federation | Mitochondrial mutational spectrum in poikilothermic versus homeothermic vertebrates: effects of the temperature and lifespan |
| Rachel Moran, Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, United States | Genomic resources for darters (Percidae: Etheostominae) provide insight into postzygotic barriers implicated in speciation |
| Emily Roycroft, School of BioSciences, The University Of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia | Museum genomics unlocks a historical record of extinction in Australia |
| Matthew Shepherd, Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom | Gene regulatory network evolution through the rewiring of transcription factors in a bacterial experimental model |
2019 Winner
| Matthew R Jones, University of Montana, Missoula, USA | The origin and spread of locally adaptive seasonal camouflage in snowshoe hares |
2018 Winner
| Harry Kemble, INSERM, France | The mechanistic basis of epistatic variety in a metabolic pathway uncovered by high-resolution fitness interaction mapping |
2017 Winner
| Anna Vickrey, University of Utah, USA | Domestic pigeon’s checkered past: wing color pattern variation is associated with one gene, two mechanisms, and interspecific introgression |
2016 Winner
| Katya Kosheleva, Harvard University, USA | Weakly selected standing variants dominate adaptation for 1000 generations in sexual, laboratory evolved yeast populations |
2015 Winner
| Aline Muyle, Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France | Evolution of dosage compensation in the dioecious plant Silene latifolia |
2014 Winner
| Alex Cagan, Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, Germany | Genetic variants underlying tameness and aggression |
2013 Winner
| Karen Wong Miller, UC Berkeley, USA | Genome-Wide Scans Reveal a Young Candidate Speciation Gene in Drosophila athabasca |
2012 Winner
| Elizabeth Perry, University of Oregon, USA | Repeatability in evolution varies with scale, organism, and the nature of selection |
2011 Winner
| Kerry Geiler-Samerotte, Harvard University, USA | The selective cost of misfolded protein toxicity and a concomitant evolutionary adaptation |
2010 Winner
| Takashi Tsuchimatsu, University of Zurich, Switzerland | Evolution of self-compatibility in Arabidopsis thaliana by a mutation in the male specificity gene |
2009 Winner
| Joshua Bayes, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, USA | The molecular basis of hybrid sterility caused by the hybrid sterility gene Odysseus |
2008 Winner
| Jean-François Gout, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France | Translational control of intron splicing in eukaryotes |
2007 Winner
| David Des Marais, Duke University, USA | Gene duplication allows substrate specialization in a biosynthetic enzyme |
2006 Winners
| Jennifer Cork, North Carolina State University, USA | Characterizing three candidate balanced polymorphisms in Arabidopsis thaliana: a reverse genetics approach |
| Joanna Kelley, University of Washington, USA | Positive selection in primate tooth enamelin and evidence for human population specific adaptation |
2005 Winner
| Leslie Collins, Massey University, New Zealand | Cutting it in the RNA World: the spliceosome and splicing in ancestral eukaryotes |
2004 Winner
| Barbara Engelhardt, University of California at Berkeley, USA | Protein function prediction using a Bayesian model of molecular function evolution |
2003 Winner
| Yoav Gilad, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany | Loss of olfactory receptor genes is coupled to the acquisition of full trichromatic color vision |
2002 Winner
| Ying Chen, University of Munich, Germany | Functional analysis of phylogenetically conserved sequence elements in intron 1 of the Drosophila melanogaster Adh gene |
2001 Winner
| Jeffrey Townsend, Harvard University, USA | Global gene expression variation in natural isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae |
2000 Winner
| Eric A. Gaucher, University of Florida, USA | Functional analysis of proteins using covarion-based evolutionary approaches: elongation factors |
1999 Winner
| Dennis Lavrov, University of Michigan, USA | Arthropod phylogeny based on gene arrangement and other characters from mitochondrial DNA |
1998 Winner
| Mark Siegal, Harvard University, USA | Functional evolutionary analysis of genes coplaced into the Drosophila genome |
1997 Winners
| Christiane Biermann, State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA | Sequence variation in the sea urchin sperm protein BINDIN is generated by recombination and length mutations |
| Paul Taylor, University of Leicester, UK | Diversity and mutational analyses of the Y-specific mini-satellite, MSY1 |
1996 Winner
| Dmitri A. Petrov, Harvard University, USA | Birth and death of processed pseudogenes in Drosophila: Molecular evolution of a non-LTR retrotransposable element |
1995 Winner
| Hiroki Oota, University of Tokyo, Japan | Phylogenetic analysis of 2,000 year old human remains of Japan (Yayoi period) based on mitochondrial DNA sequences |
1994 Winners
| Alan Cooper, Smithsonian Institution, USA | Avian evolution in New Zealand as revealed by mitochondrial DNA |
| Janet Kornegay, University of California at Berkeley, USA | Molecular adaptation of a leaf-eating bird: stomach lysozyme of the hoatzin |
1993 Winner
| Youn-Ho Lee, University of California at San Diego, USA | The divergence of species-specific abalone sperm lysin is promoted by positive Darwinian selection: implications regarding speciation |
Award Information
Eligibility: Current graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who received their primary doctoral-level degree no earlier than one year prior to the start of the annual meeting of the society (minus any career disruption or delay). A candidate for the award must become a member of the Society at least a month before the first day of the annual meeting. Approximately eight winners will be selected every year to cover the broad spectrum of research covered by SMBE.
Application Requirements:
- An abstract (250 word max) for the proposed presentation.
- A Curriculum Vitae.
Application: Via the abstract submission system for the annual meeting for which the award applies.
Contest: A committee convened by the SMBE Council will choose eight finalists from among the applications. Each selected finalist will present a 15-minute talk in the SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Awards Symposium at the annual meeting. All finalists will receive a $500 award.