AWARDS
BLAST Travel Awards
The BLAST Conference sponsors several travel awards to enable students and postdocs to attend the BLAST Conference. These are funded by generous donations from individuals and private foundations and are described below. No more than one award per lab is given. The funds are given as a waiver for a portion of the registration fee. The recipients chosen by the Board of Directors. See meeting specifics on the travel award page for updated information.
Robert M. Macnab Memorial Travel Awards
The Macnab travel awards were created to remember our colleague Dr. Robert M. Macnab on the 10th anniversary of his death, at BLAST XII (2013). The Macnab travel awards are sponsored a generous donation from Mrs. May K. Macnab. The intent of the awards is to help young scientists from outside the country that hosts BLAST to attend the meeting. Note, funds for this award were exhausted in 2019.
Peggy O'Neill Memorial Travel Award
The O'Neill travel award was created to remember long-time BLAST administrator Peggy O'Neill, who passed away in 2018 while preparing for BLAST XV. BLAST meetings have been held in multiple locations, but attendees could always count on being greeted by Peggy and a well-run meeting under her guidance. The intent of the award is to help young scientists attend BLAST meetings. The award is sponsored by small portion of BLAST registration fees. We seek donations to sustain this award in the future.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund Travel Awards
Generous grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund have supported travel awards for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees to attend BLAST meetings since 2019.
Agouron Institute Travel Awards
Under the heading, say: “Generous grants from the Agouron Institute have supported travel awards for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees to attend BLAST meetings since 2021.”
BLAST Presentation Awards
Robert M. Macnab Award for an Outstanding Poster Presentation by a Postdoctoral Scientist
This $500 award was established at BLAST VIII (2005) and is named in memory of the late Robert M. Macnab, Ph.D., who was an integral member of the Bacterial Locomotion and Signal Transduction Community. Dr. Macnab spent his 30 year career studying the assembly, structure, and function of the bacterial flagellum. Bob actively participated in the BLAST meetings and served on the Program and Review Committees for BLAST IV. At the time of his death in 2003, Bob was a professor in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. The Macnab poster award is sponsored by generous donations from Mrs. May K.Macnab
Robert J. Kadner Award for an Outstanding Poster Presentation by a Graduate Student
This $500 award was established at BLAST IX (2007) and is named in memory of the late Robert J. Kadner, Ph.D., who was an integral member of the Bacterial Locomotion and Signal Transduction Community. Dr. Kadner spent his career studying microbial physiology of E. coli transport systems. Bob actively participated in the BLAST meetings and served as Chair of the Review Committee for BLAST V, Vice-Chair of BLAST VII, and Meeting Chair of BLAST VIII. At the time of his death in 2005, Bob was the Norman J. Knorr Professor of Basic Sciences in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Virginia, School of Medicine. This award is sponsored by BLAST
BLAST Board of Directors' Award for an Outstanding Talk by a Graduate Student
This $500 award was established at BLAST XI (2011) by Phil Matsumura, Founding Chair of the BLAST Board of Directors. The BLAST Board of Directors' Award was initiated by a generous donation from Dr. Phil Matsumura and is now sponsored by BLAST
BLAST Founders' Award for an Outstanding Talk by a Postdoctoral Scientist
This $500 award was established at BLAST XIII (2015) by the BLAST Board of Directors in recognition of those who founded BLAST: Joe Falke, Mike Manson, Phil Matsumura, and Sandy Parkinson. This award is sponsored by BLAST
Microbiology Award for an Outstanding Poster Presentation by a Graduate Student
This £150 award was established at BLAST XIV (2017) and is given for the second-place poster presented a graduate student. The award is sponsored by Microbiology (https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro), a journal published by the Microbiology Society, which publishes topical, high-quality reviews and research papers on all aspects of microbiology. The journal combines editorial expertise from around the world with exceptional breadth of coverage, providing access to research in a single accessible source.
Nucleic Acids Research Award for an Outstanding Poster Presentation by a Young Investigator
This $300 award was established at BLAST XI (2011) and is presented to a young investigator whose research is in on regulation of transcription. The award is sponsored by Nucleic Acids Research (NAR), an Oxford University Press Journal, which publishes the results of leading-edge research into physical, chemical, biochemical and biological aspects of nucleic acids and proteins involved in nucleic acid metabolism and/or interactions (http://nar.oxfordjournals.org)
Howard C. Berg Award for an Outstanding Talk on Motility by a Young Investigator25
This award was established at BLAST XVII (2023) and is named in memory of the late Howard C. Berg, Ph.D., who was an integral member of the Bacterial Locomotion and Signal Transduction Community. Dr. Berg spent his career studying microbial motility and was one of the founders of our field. Howard actively participated in the BLAST meetings and was the Keynote Speaker at BLAST XVI. At the time of his death in 2021, Howard was the Herschel Smith Professor in the Departments of Physics and Molecular & Cellular Biology at Harvard University. This award is funded by donations from the BLAST community.”
Scientific Achievement Awards
F. Marion Hulett Award
F. Marion Hulett was a valued colleague in the BLAST community. She was a faculty member in the Biology Department at the University of Illinois-Chicago for 35 years. Marion's research focused on the complex network of two-component regulatory systems in Bacillus subtilis that respond to phosphate starvation. In memory of Marion, BLAST founder Phil Matsumura established and funded with a generous donation the F. Marion Hulett Award for a distinguished woman biologist whose research involves microorganisms. BLAST, Inc. administers the Award, which consists of a $1,000 cash prize and an engraved pewter bowl.
Past recipients include:
Lin Randall, University of Missouri, Columbia
Judy Armitage, University of Oxford