ILCaMS students and researchers sweep awards at conference in South America
Researchers from ILCaMS’ Department of Musculoskeletal and Ageing Science were multiple award winners at the recent Society for Redox Biology and Medicine’s (SfRBM) awards, held in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The award ceremony was part of the SfRBM 30th annual conference and saw PhD students Ufuk Ersoy and Samrajni Banerjee presented with prizes for their abstract submissions, as well as Dr Samantha Jones receiving an honour for her work on the exciting MicroAge project.
Ufuk Ersoy was a double winner on the day, as he collected the award for the standout young investigator at the congress. The winner of this award receives a grant which will fund Ufuk’s travel to the next SfRBM meeting to be held in Georgia, USA, November 2024.
Ufuk said in reaction to the news of the award “It was an exhilarating experience to win travel award and young investigator award at a single conference hosted by the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine (SfRBM) and The Society for Free Radical Research - International (SFRR-E). The imposter syndrome is quite common among students and staff in higher education. As a final year PhD student, I often question whether I am truly qualified to be conferred with the title of Doctor of Philosophy. Seeing my work acknowledged at a conference with attendees from around the world, including pioneers in the field of redox biology like Prof. Helmut Sies, who first defined "oxidative stress," was not only a great pleasure”.
Samrajni, who’s PhD work focuses on Mitochondrial network disruption as part of Professor Malcolm Jackson’s team, was also thrilled to receive a travel grant award, saying “I received a very generous SFRR-I travel award to cover my costs for travel to the annual meeting in Uruguay. I received the award based on submission of my abstract for presentation based on my PhD work “To understand the role of reactive oxygen species in altered mitochondrial structure and distribution with ageing” which I presented a poster on. I felt very honoured to have received an award at such a prestigious conference and have my work acknowledged in front of such brilliant redox scientists. Attending this conference was like once in a lifetime opportunity.”
The Society for Redox Biology and Medicine is the leading global organisation established in response to a growing recognition of the "dark side" of oxygen as a major issue for the life sciences. Many ILCaMS researchers are members of the society as they explore the effects of free radicals, antioxidants, and reactive oxygen in relation to ageing, and biology.
Dr Sam Jones, project manager for the brilliant MicroAge project being carried out in conjunction with the UK Space Agency, received the SFRRI Travel Award at the conference. Dr Jones’ involvement with the project has been widely celebrated in recent years, and as one of the most high-profile studies currently being carried out in the University. As with Ufuk, the travel award will allow Sam to visit the next conference in 2024.