Animal Section :

Winner: Robine Leeuwis  (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Robine obtained her BSc and MSc degrees at the Radboud University in the Netherlands, before completing her PhD in Marine Biology at the Memorial University in Canada. She then joined the Jutfelt Fish Ecophysiology Lab at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Norway as a postdoc.

Her research focuses on how the environment -- especially anything related to climate change -- affects the physiology of fishes. She currently work on questions related to thermal acclimation and adaptation, whereby she uses zebrafish as a model species and artificial selection as a powerful experimental tool.

Previously Robine also studied Atlantic cod, goldsinny wrasse, sablefish, Atlantic salmon, and rainbow trout. She is interested in topics like immunity, cardiac function, respiration, plasticity, hypoxia, and temperature tolerance. She is always keen to put physiology in its wider ecological and evolutionary context, to collaborate, and to try out new methods in her research.

Cell Section :

Winner: Amy Yi Hsan Saik   (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR))

Amy obtained her Bachelor of Science (Biomedical Science) and Honours (Pharmacology major) degrees from the University of Western Australia. She completed my PhD at Monash University in 2019 with a higher degree by research full scholarship. Currently, she works as an assistant professor at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia. She is also the chairperson of the Centre for Stem Cell Research.  

Amy’s specialty is pharmacology. She is passionate about establishing disease models using specialized cells such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and 3D organoids for pharmacological screening, especially for disorders that could be potentially treated with personalised medicine and cell therapy.

Her previous work involved the modification of bioactive compounds to enhance their anti-cancer properties. From there, she now focuses on using nanomaterials as an improved delivery system to enhance the properties of conventional drugs as well as bioactive compounds.

Plant section:

Winner:   Ewa Sybilska   (Institute of Biology Biotechnology and Environmental Protection University of Silesia in Katowice)

Ms Ewa Sybilska is a Ph.D. student in the ‘Plant Genetics and Functional Genomics’ group at the Institute of Biology, Biotechnology, and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice in Poland.

Fascinated by plant genetics, her research interests focus on plant adaptation to abiotic stresses. Under the supervision of Professor Agata Daszkowska-Golec, she is investigating the role of the cap-binding complex (CBC) in response to abscisic acid (ABA) during seed germination in barley (Hordeum vulgare).

Her work aims to elucidate molecular mechanisms and identify the CBC complex's signaling pathways