The National Academy of Sciences has announced LCID Faculty Member Dr. Nancy A. Moran as recipient of the 2023 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology. Established by the Waksman Foundation for Microbiology, the Selman A. Waksman Award is a prize of $20,000 that is presented to recognize a major advance in the field of microbiology.
In its announcement, the NAS cited Moran’s trailblazing research on the evolution and biology of the intimate symbiosis between insect hosts and bacteria that has expanded understanding of microbial symbiosis and bacterial genome evolution.
Moran and her research group combine methods from molecular biology, genomics, experimental biology and evolutionary theory. Through this, Moran has demonstrated the evolutionary origins of symbioses, their ubiquity in the organismal world, and the consequences of intimate symbiosis in the evolution and ecology of symbionts and hosts. The Moran Lab has also characterized the distinctive gut communities in honeybees, providing a new and useful model system for understanding more complex communities of microbes that impact organismal health.
For more information: National Academy of Sciences 2023 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology