Season’s Greetings from the Lister Institute

It goes without saying that 2021 has once again been a difficult year for researchers and for us all as individuals. Our thoughts continue to be with those of you who have suffered as a result of the pandemic.

In more upbeat news, we awarded the Lister Prize to six outstanding researchers this year:

• Dr Tanmay Bharat, University of Oxford
• Prof Ravindra Gupta, University of Cambridge
• Dr James Lee, Francis Crick Institute
• Dr Christopher Stewart, Newcastle University
• Prof Rickie Patani, UCL/Francis Crick Institute
• Dr Stineke Van Houte, University of Exeter.

With the exception of Christopher, who was unable to attend, it was a pleasure to hear the Prize Winners talk about their research in person at our Annual General Meeting in September.

Photo by Steven O’Gorman

We were delighted to be able to host our AGM in person once again, in the beautiful grounds of Oxford’s Corpus Christi College.

We also heard lectures from two winners of the 2020 Research Prizes at the event: Dr Tomás Ryan, of Trinity College Dublin, talked about his research to retrieve infant memories from the minds of adults. Dr Stephan Uphoff from the University of Oxford explained his efforts to image DNA repair and mutagenesis in bacteria.

Wolf Reik of the Babraham Institute also spoke, as did Professor Victoria Cowling – who became a Lister Fellow in 2011. This year’s Special Lister Lecture came from Professor Doug Higgs, Professor of Molecular Haematology and Director of the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. He talked about his career and ongoing studies to understand how genes are switched on and off in health and disease.

Attendees also enjoyed an excellent poster session, presented by twelve of the students who participated in a Lister Summer Studentship this summer.

Amongst exciting research advances, papers, and reviews, 2021 brought the following news for the Institute, our Fellows and Members:

• Governing Body Professor Wendy Anne Bickmore was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to biomedical sciences and to women in science.
• Lister Prize Fellow Dr Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri was awarded the prestigious Hans Sigrist Prize.
• Former Fellow Professor Michael Eddleston, and Scientific Advisory Committee member, Professor E. Elizabeth Patton were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).
• Madan Babu was elected as a new Fellow for The Academy of Medical Sciences.
• Former Fellow Professor Frances Platt was awarded a Fellowship from the Royal Society.
• Former Scientific Advisory Committee member, Professor Corinne Houart, was elected as an EMBO Member.
• Former Fellow Professor Pete Cullen was also elected as an EMBO Member, following the award of a prestigious Research Fellowship from the Royal Society.

We look forward to watching our Fellows expand their vital research and to continuing our support for them and the wider biomedical research community in 2022.