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 typically given as a waiver for a portion of the registration fee, and in some cases, funds for part of travel expenses. The recipients chosen by the Board of Directors. If you would like to be considered, have your advisor send a short email request to Sarah Van Heusen (sarah_vanheusen@med.unc.edu) that includes presentation abstract. Requests are due at the time of talk abstract submission.
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. Award receipients for BLAST XV in 2019 were graduate students Mariela García-Ramos from George Dreyfus' lab at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico and Anna Pecina from Kai Thormann's lab at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen in Germany. 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 recipient of the first Peggy O'Neill Memorial Travel Award in 2019 was Frank Liu from Cara Haney's lab at the University of British Columbia. The initial 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
A generous grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund supported travel grants to assist seven graduate students in attending BLAST XV. The recipients in 2019 were: Alina Guse from Marc Erhardt's lab at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in Germany; Jia Khoo from Judy Armitage's lab at Oxford University in the United Kingdom; Bruk Mensa from William DeGrado's lab at the University of California, San Francisco; Farha Naaz from Mahesh Tirumkudulu's lab at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; Lindsey O'Neal from Gladys Alexandre's lab at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Ramiro Patino from Joanne Engel's lab at the University of California, San Francisco; and Shanice Webster from George O'Toole's lab at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
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)
BLAST Board of Directors' Award for an Outstanding Talk by a Graduate Student
This 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 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.