Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido receives the Tulane 2025 Science and Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award for Professional Excellence

Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Loiurido has been awarded the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering’s 2025 Science and Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award for Professional Excellence. This award is the highest honor bestowed upon an alumni by the School and recognizes "One singularly successful individual who, through exemplary accomplishments and recognition, epitomizes the potential of a Tulane education and thereby brings credit and honor to the School and University." He will be presented with the award at a ceremony on April 10.  “I am so honored to receive this award and greatly appreciate the role that my Tulane education has had in shaping my career,” says Lourido.

The Lourido laboratory at Whitehead Institute studies the developmental transitions and molecular pathways that the single cell parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii ), uses to infect its host, causing toxoplasmosis.They combine several approaches that span phospho-proteomics, chemical-genetics, and genome editing to investigate the unique biology of these organisms and identify specific features that can be targeted to treat infections of T. gondii and related parasites. 

Lourido, who is also an associate professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, originally joined Whitehead Institute as a Whitehead Fellow in 2012, a program that allows promising MD or PhD graduates to initiate their own research program in lieu of a traditional postdoctoral fellowship. “Sebastian’s demonstrated excellence as a young investigator underscores the importance of investing in the next generation of scientists and scientific leaders,” says Ruth Lehmann, Whitehead Institute’s President and Director.

After receiving both a BS in Cell and Molecular Biology and a BFA in Studio Art, Lourido went on to pursue graduate work at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to this honor, Lourido has also been the recipient of other awards including the NIH Director's Early Independence Award and the 2024 William Trager Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and was recognized as one of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease.