Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research fellowship for Dr Marcela Hernández

Dr Marcela Hernández, a former NAMRIP member, has been awarded a prestigious Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research fellowship.

 

NAMRIP member Dr Marcela Hernández has been awarded a prestigious Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research fellowship. Formerly at the University of Southampton, where she initially joined NAMRIP, she will set up her laboratory in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia.

 

Her research will study carbon-cycling microorganisms in volcanic soil. Dr Hernández’s research will provide key insights into the process of soil formation by investigating the role of microbes in volcanic soils. More specifically, her research will focus on soil bacteria involved in atmospheric trace gas metabolism in volcanic soils of varying ages and their importance for plant survival and growth.

 

This will have direct implications for soil preservation and sustainable soil management as well as broadening our understanding of the importance of soil microbes as consumers of trace gases, which include greenhouse gases and compounds toxic to humans.

 

Dr Hernández, who has a long history of supporting NAMRIP's outreach and engagement mission (for example at Cheltenham Science Festival), had previously won a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to perform a research stay for 6 months at the Thünen Institute of Biodiversity in Braunschweig, Germany. She was one of the UK NAMRIP team that went with Professor Leighton to Kampala in March 2019 for the 2nd Global-NAMRIP conference that brought together over 140 delegates from 7 different countries, all focussed on tackling the issue of Antimicrobial Resistance, preventing infection and promoting an environment that supports good health.

 

On hearing the news of her win, Dr Hernández said: "It has been, and continues to be, an immense pleasure to have been a NAMRIP member and to join the 2nd Global-NAMRIP conference in 2019 in Uganda, where I learnt more about the challenges that people in Africa face every day to combat AMR. I am very grateful for the strong mentoring support I received from Professor Leighton, which I consider was crucial for the success of my fellowship. I look forward to establishing exciting new projects on AMR in the environment and support both NAMRIP and Global NAMRIP fulfilling the goals of reducing the need for antibiotics by preventing infections".