New York: Indian-American microbiologist Lalita Ramakrishnan has been awarded the 2024 Robert Koch Prize, in recognition of her pioneering research investigating the molecular mechanisms behind tuberculosis (TB). She will receive the approximately 132,000 USD prize at a ceremony on November 8 in Berlin.
Awarded annually to recognize outstanding researchers for their internationally acclaimed scientific accomplishments, the prize is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Health. Currently serving as the professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Cambridge, Lalita’s research into TB has huge global importance given that the disease continues to be a major cause of death in many countries.
She uses the zebrafish as a model to study how mycobacteria cause disease, as the fish are a natural host to Mycobacterium marinum, a close relative of the human TB bacterium. Lalita began her research career by completing medical training in India, before moving to the US to complete a Ph D in Immunology and medical residency training at Tufts Medical School in Boston. In 2001, she joined the University of Washington, where she pioneered using zebrafish to model TB pathogenesis.
