NARILIS PhD student Hala Kasmo wins Best Poster Prize at MCB 2024 conference in Marburg

Native from Syria, Hala Kasmo obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology Engineering before moving to Belgium in 2019 to pursue a master’s degree in Molecular Microbiology at the UNamur. In 2021, Hala received a FRIA doctoral grant, enabling her to join the laboratory of Prof. Jean-Yves Matroule (URBM, UNamur), which focuses on bacterial adaptation to metal stress.

Hala's research explores copper transport mechanisms across the inner membrane of Caulobacter crescentus, an aquatic free-living bacterium. Copper is vital in low concentrations but toxic at higher levels, making its regulation crucial for bacterial survival. Her work specifically aims at identifying transporters involved in Cu export by generating knock-out strains and assessing their sensitivity to copper.

Early October, Hala presented her ongoing investigations on copper influx and efflux mechanisms at the Microbial Cell Biology (MCB2024) conference in Marburg, Germany, where she was honored with a Poster Prize!

Congratulations Hala !

Picture: Hala is the second from the left.