The Rob Goldbach prize is handed out every two years for the best master thesis delivered for examination at the Laboratory of Virology at Wageningen University & Research.
This prize is handed out every two years for the best master thesis delivered for examination at the Laboratory of Virology in Wageningen. Joyce fully deserves this prize based on an excellent thesis. She identified a number of antiviral mosquito proteins that bound to a highly-stuctured RNA molecule derived from the West Nile and ZIKA virus genome. This RNA structure is required for efficient transmission of these viruses by mosquitoes.
Her results were published in a recent paper in PNAS, on which she was the second author, quite an achievement for a master student. Her thesis supervisors were Giel Göertz and Gorben Pijlman.
Joyce has recently started her PhD study in the Laboratoy of Virology. You can read more about her work here: OHPACT PhD student working on SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
For more information on this prize and the other activities of the Rob Goldbach Fund please visit: Contributing to virology research through the Rob Goldbach Fund – wur.nl.