Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido receives the 2024 William Trager Award

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) selected Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido to receive its 2024 William Trager Award.

The Trager Award recognizes scientists who have made substantial contributions to the study of basic parasitology through breakthroughs that have unlocked completely new areas of work.

ASTMH selected Lourido — who is also an associate professor of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds the Landon Clay Career Development Chair at Whitehead Institute — in recognition of his groundbreaking discoveries on the molecular biology of Toxoplasma. In particular, Lourido has been lauded for his use of cutting-edge CRISPR tools to study the fundamental biology of Toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite that infects about 25 percent of humans.

“My laboratory colleagues and I are grateful for this recognition of our work, and for the wonderful opportunity it presents to more widely share the ideas and tools we have developed,” says Lourido, who will deliver a talk on his research at the ASTMH Annual Meeting in New Orleans on Nov. 15, 2024.