Chris Schiering, a postdoctoral researcher in Gitta Stockinger's lab at our Mill Hill Laboratory has won the Acteria Doctoral Prize in Immunology awarded by the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS).
The Acteria Doctoral Prize in Immunology honours the best doctoral thesis defended in topics related to immunology. The Acteria Doctoral Thesis Prize carries a cash award of €15,000 and awardees automatically qualify for 3-year research grants of €50,000 annually.
The 2015 Acteria Prizes awarded by EFIS consist of four prizes given to high potential early career researchers in Immunology and Allergology, to acknowledge outstanding achievement in fundamental research performed in European institutes. There are two different prizes: Doctoral Prizes (during the doctoral thesis in the last 3 years) and Early Career Research Prizes (up to 10 years after PhD).
Chris will use his Acteria research grant to investigate the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in intestinal immunity. The AhR is a ligand-activated transcription factor that acts as molecular sensor of environmental changes. His findings suggest that the AhR mediates the bidirectional cross talk between dietary compounds, the microbiota and the immune system.
Chris was awarded his prize in September at a special Plenary Lecture Session of the 4th European Congress of Immunology in Vienna where he presented his work.
