For Women in Science Fellowship for Marjon de Vos

Dr. Marjon de Vos of the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES) has been awarded a L’Oréal-Unesco fellowship of the For Women in Science program. The For Women in Science program is a collaboration between UNESCO and L’Oréal and supported by the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH) . Every year they award the For Women in Science fellowship and the Rising Talent Prize to exceptional female scientists . The fellowship consists of a grant of EUR 25,000 and a stay at the NIAS-KNAW (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study) in Amsterdam. With the fellowship, De Vos will work on her project 'Urinary tract infections – through the eco-evolutionary looking glass'.

Annually, several hundred million persons suffer from a urinary tract infection (UTI). In the case of UTI, it has long gone unnoticed that multiple microbial species may play a role in the development of disease. Yet, the instant, ecological, interactions between microbes can alter the severity of infections and complicate antibiotic treatments. Additionally, microbial interactions can shape the evolutionary potential of pathogens in the long run. Marjon de Vos will study the ecology and evolution of UTIs from an Evolutionary Medicine perspective, in which she aims to overcome the fundamental-clinical divide.