Home > News > ABCD/Merial Young Scientist Award (AMYSA)
Share |

ABCD/Merial Young Scientist Award (AMYSA)

The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases (ABCD) invites applications for the ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award 2013.
Candidates should have made an original contribution to the field of feline infectious diseases and/or immunology.

Again, two prizes will be awarded, one for clinical research, the other for basic investigation.

​​​​​​

Applications for the 2013 awards should be submitted by 1 January 2013. Details can be found in the following documents:

AMYSA - rules and application form

 PDF Version  DOC Version

​​ 

Céline Robert-Tissot and Bianca Stützer win the 2012 ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Awards

Two ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Awards (AMYSA) were presented in June 2012, at the occasion of the Congress of the International Society of Feline Medicine in Budapest.

Basic research award: Céline Robert-Tissot
The 2012 AMYSA for Basic Research was awarded to Dr vet med Céline Robert-Tissot, PhD, of the Clinical Laboratory, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich (Switzerland), for her work entitled "The innate antiviral immune system of the domestic cat".

Clinical research award: Bianca Stützer
The 2012 AMYSA for Clinical Research went to Dr med vet Bianca Stützer from the Medizinische Kleintierklinik, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich (Germany) for her submission of "Role of regressive feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) infection in cats with non-regenerative bone marrow suppression or lymphoma".

ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Awards
The awards were presented by Professor Marian C. Horzinek (ABCD), and Dr Jean-Christophe Thibault, Merial’s Technical Director for Biologicals (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

The ABCD and Merial Young Scientist Awards, created in 2008, are funded by Merial and are presented to young scientist in veterinary or biomedical sciences, who have made an original contribution in the field of feline infectious diseases and/or immunology.

Applications for the 2013 ABCD and Merial Young Scientist Awards are now open.

 
 AMYSA 2012 press release 
Previous AMYSA laureates

Isabelle Dietrich, laureate of the 2011 ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award

The ABCD and Merial Young Scientist Award 2011 was presented to Isabelle Dietrich (Center for Virus Research of the University of Glasgow, UK) for her work on a potential gene therapy for cats infected with the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), based on restriction of the virus with a synthetic feline TRIM5-CypA fusion protein. Such a gene therapy for FIV-infected cats would offer an effective antiviral defense strategy with a very low potential for toxicity and the emergence of resistant viral variants, and would contribute significantly to animal welfare.
 
Isabelle Dietrich, of the University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, received the 2011 ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award on 25 June 2011, on the occasion of the International Society of Feline Medicine, held in Vienna, Austria. She is  flanked by professor Horzinek (ABCD chairman, at left) and Jean-Christophe Thibault (Merial).
 
 AMYSA 2011 press release 

William McEwan, laureate of the 2010 ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award

                    
award_2010_McEwan.jpgThe ABCD and Merial Young Scientist Award 2010 was presented to Dr William McEwan (MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK), for his work on the replication and cross-species transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus infection in domestic cats and lions, and the resitriction factors in these species in particular. FIV infections of the domestic cat and lion are examples of comparatively novel and ancient host-pathogen interactions respectively, and while domestic cats are permissive to a broad range of retroviruses, lions can potently restrict replication. 
  
William McEwan (centre), of the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, received the 2010 ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award on 20 June 2010, on the occasion of the International Society of Feline Medicine, held in Amsterdam. He is flanked by professor Horzinek (ABCD chairman) and Jean-Christophe Thibault (Merial).
 
 AMYSA 2010 press release 

Jonas Wensman, laureate of the 2009 ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award

award_2009_WENSMAN.jpgThe ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award 2009 was won by Dr Jonas Wensman (SLU, Sweden) for his work on the diagnosis of bornavirus infection in cats. At present, the tentative diagnosis of bornavirus infection (staggering disease) can only be made clinically by excluding other causative agents. The need for sensitive and specific diagnostics has led Jonas to help develop a real-time RT-PCR assay.
 
Jonas Wensman, from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) received the 2009 ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award (AMYSA) on 20 June 2009, on the occasion of the congress of the European Society of Feline Medicine, held in Cavtat, Dubrovnik (Croatia). At left, Jean-Christophe Thibault (Merial) and at right, Marian Horzinek (ABCD chairman). 
 

Hannah Dewerchin wins the first ABCD & Merial Young Scientist Award 2008

award_2008_Dewerchin.jpgThe ABCD and Merial Young Scientist Award 2008 was won by Dr Hannah Dewerchin (Ghent University), for her work on Feline infectious peritonitis, and in particular its interaction with the host cell, monocytes and its ability to evade the humoral immune response.                       

The first ABCD and Merial Young Scientist Award 2008 was presented to Dr Hannah Dewerchin, from the Ghent University (Belgium), on 25 September in Edinburgh, on the occasion of the congress of the European Society of Feline Medicine.