Yang Zhao and Samuel Leitão win EDBB Best Doctoral Thesis Awards
Yang Zhao and Samuel Leitão © Yang Zhao and Samuel Leitão/EPFL CC BY-SA
School of Engineering PhD students Yang Zhao and Samuel Leitão have both received Best Doctoral Thesis Awards in Biotechnology and Bioengineering for their outstanding work.
Zhao’s thesis, “Countering T cell exhaustion and senescence for enhanced adoptive T cell therapies against solid tumors”, was supervised by the head of the Laboratory of Biomaterials for Immunoengineering, Li Tang.
“I am honored by the recognition of my thesis research from the Doctoral Program in Biotechnology and Bioengineering (EDBB),” Zhao said. “The collaborative and supportive environment, along with excellent training, has shaped my growth. Special thanks to my advisor and lab colleagues, whose support has been a guiding force in my academic journey.”
Leitão’s thesis, “Time-Resolved Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy and Single-Molecule Spectroscopy”, focused on using ions for live cell imaging and single molecule detection, and was supervised by the head of the Laboratory for Bio- and Nano-Instrumentation (LBNI), Georg Fantner.
Leitão also said he was honored to be recognized by the EDBB program for his research. “The achievements in my thesis stem from the integration of specialized research areas, made possible by the interdisciplinary and collaborative research environment at EPFL. I am proud to have been part of a team that brought together diverse expertise to advance live cell microscopy and single-molecule detection technology.”
Each year, the EDBB program awards distinctions to a selection of very high-quality theses, in order to highlight the doctoral candidates’ research work and their scientific merit. For each doctoral program, nominated graduates are selected on the basis of their oral examination. Then the program committee evaluates the nominees and rewards the best 8%.