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Judith Howard Lecture Prize
The Howard Lecture is an annual lecture which celebrates world-leading early to mid-career academics working in the biophysical sciences from anywhere in the world. Nominations can be made for researchers working in academia or in industry and we welcome nominations for those with unconventional career paths or with career breaks.
The 2024 Judith Howard Prize Lecture
31 October 2024
1-2 pm (Prize Lecture), 2-3 pm (Poster Session), Penthouse, Collingwood College
We are very pleased to welcome Dr Ioanna Mela (Cambridge) to Durham for the 2024 Judith Howard Lecture, the BSI’s flagship event, named in honour of Professor Judith Howard CBE FRS.
The talk will be followed by a poster session showcasing research from this year's BSI Summer Research Bursary students.
Register here: https://forms.office.com/e/AMePxKzV8g
Research Interests: Dr Mela's research is focuses on DNA nanotechnology and how it can be used to deliver antimicrobial drugs directly to bacterial targets, improving their efficacy.
Find out more here: Ioanna Mela | School of the Biological Sciences (cam.ac.uk)
Programme
13:00 Judith Howard Lecture - 2024 Speaker Dr Ioanna Mela (University of Cambridge)
14:00 Biophysical Sciences Institute Summer Research Bursaries - Poster Session
15:00 Close
Professor Judith Howard
Professor Judith Howard CBE FRS was one of the original founders of the BSI and was instrumental in establishing the Wolfson Laboratories on the top floor of the Chemistry Department, an interdisciplinary research hub home to many BSI researchers.
Judith joined Durham as a Professor of Crystallography in 1991 and became the first female head of a five-star chemistry department nationally. She has built instruments that allow scientists to apply techniques to prove theories experimentally and advance the field of X-ray crystallography. She developed low-temperature X-ray and neutron diffraction methods to explore electron density distributions, chemical bonding descriptors and magnetic properties in molecules more precisely.
To mark her formal retirement from the University the Howard lecture was established in her name, and celebrates up-and-coming researchers in the biophysical sciences from all over the world.
Past Howard Lectures
In late November 2023, we welcomed Dr Yuval Elani (Imperial College) to Durham to present the Judith Howard Lecture (image above). His talk "Building a new biology: design and construction of synthetic cells" was the latest in this series of lectures that celebrate world-leading early to mid-career academics working in the biophysical sciences from anywhere in the world.
Dr Yuval Elani is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Lecturer (Asst. Professor) in the Department of Chemical Engineering, where he leads the Bioinspired Engineering Group. Yuval is an expert in synthetic biology, bio-membrane engineering, opto- / microfluidics, and molecular bioengineering.
Previous Lecturers
2023: Dr Yuval Elani, Imperial College London
2021: Dr Rivka Isaacson, King’s College London
2020: Professor Silvia Marchesan, University of Trieste
2018: Professor Vijay Chudasama, University College London
2017: Dr Susan Cox, Kings College London
2016: Professor Justin Benesch, University of Oxford
2015: Dr Sarah Veatch, University of Michigan, US
2014: Dr Arwen Pearson, Universitat Hamburg
2013: Professor David R. Nelson, Harvard University, US
How to Nominate for the 2025 Prize
Please forward the name and institution link of nominees to Steven Cobb, BSI Director, at: bsi.manager@durham.ac.uk.
Self-nominations are also welcome. Nominations are welcome from all areas of biophysical sciences.
Closing Date: 30 May 2025