We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Life 2021 PHD Thesis Award is Dr. Brayon Fremin. Dr. Soukaina El Amrani Zerrifi and Dr. Carina Isabel Coelho Proença are honorable mentions.

Dr. Brayon Fremin is from Stanford University, USA. In his Ph.D. thesis, Dr. Fremin developed original ideas and methods for profiling RNA expression in the microbiome. The results—generated by concepts developed independently by Dr. Fremin himself while he was a Ph.D. student—are attracting considerable attention (> 100 citations) after being published in the most well-reputed journals. The procedures used were highly original, and identification of what genes are expressed and novel open reading frames of the microbiome should have a huge impact on understanding how the microbiome influences many disease states. His advisor, Dr. Bhatt, states “I have never met a more creative and pioneering translational scientist in my entire career”. We look forward to reading about Dr. Fremin’s many scientific accomplishments to come.

Dr. Soukaina El Amrani Zerrifi, from Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco, is recognized for her outstanding accomplishments and the impact of her work on the environment and bio-technological development of her country. In her thesis work, she isolated and identified multiple products from both seaweeds and bacteria that hold great potential for combatting cyanobacterial blooms, which represent a major ecological and environmental threat in many marine ecosystems. Her work has already been highly cited, and her advisor, Dr. Oudra, stated that she has “enormous potential to excel in research”.

Dr. Carina Isabel Coelho Proença, from University of Porto, Portugal, is recognized for her impressive productivity and impact within the field, as reflected by over 190 citations of publications arising from her Ph.D. work. Her research investigated the potential application of flavonoids targeting several diabetes-related enzymes as novel therapeutics. By means of systematic characterization, and sophisticated computational approaches, followed up by experimental validation, the study identified specific aspects of flavonoid structure that can enable differential targeting of five different enzymes which are central to diabetes. This large body of work generated nine highly cited papers with Dr. Proença as lead author. Her advisor, Dr. Fernandes, praised the “enthusiasm, commitment, hard work, and intellectual rigor” displayed throughout her doctoral studies.

As the awardee, Dr. Brayon Fremin will receive an honorarium of CHF 800, while all three of Dr. Brayon Fremin, Dr. Soukaina El Amrani Zerrifi and Dr. Carina Isabel Coelho Proença will have the opportunity to publish one paper free of charge before 31 December 2023 in Life, after peer review.

We want to thank all the excellent Ph.D. students who applied for this award as their brilliant CVs made the choice very difficult. We would also like to thank all of the Award Committee Members for their thorough evaluation of the applications.