Many congratulations to Noémie Lefranq on being awarded the 2025 Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize by the Genetics Society.
Noémie was a joint PhD student between the Pathogen Dynamics Group at the Department of Genetics and the Pathogen Genomics and Evolution Group at the Department of Veterinary Medicine. She worked on Bordetella pertussis, the bacterium behind whooping cough disease, which is responsible for thousands of deaths globally each year, even in the face of widespread vaccination.
"I am thrilled to have received the Sir Kenneth Mather Prize. This is not only a recognition of my work but also highlights the guidance of my exceptional supervisors, Henrik and Julian."
In her thesis, Noémie combined mathematical modelling with the most comprehensive dataset of Bordetella pertussis genomes ever collected. Her research is helping to understand the national and international spread of pertussis and the role of vaccines. Beyond pertussis, the methods developed in Noémie’s thesis are applicable to other pathogens and will help shed light on their spread and fitness. Noémie is now a postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zürich.
PhD title: The global dynamics of Bordetella pertussis (whooping cough) and implications for control. [https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.109948]