The Vallee Foundation was established in 1996 “to foster originality, creativity, and leadership within biomedical scientific research and medical education”, according to their website. As part of that mission, the Foundation seeks out nominations from institutes around the world for young and outstanding independent investigators carrying out basic biomedical research.
Competition for the award is fierce, and Tanmay was both surprised and delighted to receive the award, being the only scientist in a non-US institute to be selected this year.
“This award will allow us to work on exciting projects related to bacterial biofilms, and I am especially grateful to Matthew Freeman and Carol Robinson for nominating me” Tanmay said. Biofilms are multi-cellular communities of bacteria, which form during most human bacterial infections.
To study bacterial biofilms, Tanmay’s group combines imaging techniques such as cryo-EM with wetlab methods including biochemistry and microbiology. Along with the exciting results that come from the lab, Tanmay’s interest in studying bacterial biofilms is partly driven by personal experience, having suffered from bacterial biofilm infections in the past and leaving him fully aware of the importance of the problem.
Read more about the Vallee Foundation and Tanmay’s research on the Foundation’s website.
Derek Xu (@derekcxu)