Margarida Silva, PhD student at the Yeast Genomics Lab at UCIBIO-NOVA FCT, was awarded Best Poster Presentation at Microbiotec’25 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2025, held at the University of Azores from 4 to 6 December 2025, with the award being announced on 7 December 2025. The prize, jointly awarded by the Sociedade Portuguesa de Microbiologia and the Sociedade Portuguesa de Biotecnologia, recognises the scientific and aesthetic quality of the work presented, both the poster and Margarida’s oral presentation.
Her poster, titled "Dissecting multiple hybridization events in a complex yeast lineage using genomics", was presented under Topic #5 – Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Physiology and stood out among more than 300 national and international contributions. The awarded research analysed 200 yeast genomes from species of high biotechnological relevance, uncovering eight types of interspecies hybrids. The study showed that these hybrids occur in high sugar and high salt anthropic environments, supporting a link between hybridisation processes and domestication.
This distinction highlights the relevance of fundamental research and demonstrates the impact of using whole-genome analyses in understanding how biotechnologically important yeasts evolved key traits and adapted to domestication environments. It further recognises the scientific impact of Margarida Silva’s work and highlights the excellence of the research carried out at the Yeast Genomics Lab of UCIBIO-NOVA FCT, in advancing knowledge in yeast genomics and microbial biotechnology, and fostering the development of innovative biomedical technologies.