Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology – NAS (original) (raw)
The Selman A. Waksman Award recognizes a major advance in the field of microbiology and is presented with a $20,000 prize.
Nancy A. Moran, The University of Texas at Austin, received the 2023 Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology.
Moran’s pioneering research has expanded our understanding of microbial symbiosis and bacterial genome evolution.
Her work has focused on the evolution and biology of intimate symbiosis between insect hosts and bacteria. Combining methods from molecular biology, genomics, experimental biology and evolutionary theory, 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.
Moran and her research group have 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.