Tanmay Bharat, Group Leader in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, has been awarded the EMBO Gold Medal in recognition of his research in the field of structural microbiology. EMBO bestows its Gold Medal annually, to reward the outstanding contributions of early-career scientists working in life sciences in Europe. This year, EMBO have named two recipients of the Gold Medal; alongside Tanmay, David Bikard from the Institut Pasteur, France is also awarded.
Tanmay commented: “When I started working on microbial surface molecules that had been lost into obscurity for decades, I could hardly have even dreamt of our research being awarded an EMBO Gold Medal! This is an incredible honour, that I dedicate to all present and past lab members, as well as generous collaborators, whose achievements and contributions are directly being recognised here. Such research on enigmatic areas of molecular biology is only possible in a few places in the world, and I am grateful for the exceptional atmosphere at the LMB that fostered this work, with absolute top-notch facilities and colleagues.”
Tanmay’s research is focussed on understanding how microorganisms use surface molecules to form complex multicellular communities, including biofilms and microbiomes. By developing and using electron cryotomography (cryo-ET) and correlated imaging approaches, Tanmay’s group is able to visualise how these multicellular communities are built and sustained. Although much of the work is fundamental, this work has explicit biomedical relevance; for example biofilm formation allows bacteria to survive in challenging environments, including during infections where they become resistant to antibiotic treatment. Tanmay’s research seeks to establish how emergent properties such as antibacterial resistance arise and, crucially, how this could be disrupted in clinical applications.
Tanmay has led complex studies to determine the surface layer structures of different bacteria including Caulobacter crescentus, Deinococcus radiodurans, and Corynebacterium glutamicum and archaea including Nitrosopumilus maritimus and Haloferax volcanii. His group has also made significant discoveries in the mechanisms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance.
After studying Chemistry at the University of Delhi, Tanmay read Biological Sciences at University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He then completed his PhD at EMBL Heidelberg, before joining the LMB as an EMBO/FEBS long-term fellow working with Jan Löwe. In 2017, he joined the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, after which he moved back to the LMB in 2022 as a Group Leader.
Tanmay’s work on prokaryotic surface molecules and biofilms has previously been recognised with a 2024 Blavatnik Award (Life Sciences Finalist), the 2023 Fleming Prize from the Microbiology Society, the 2022 Colworth Medal from the Biochemical Society, the 2021 Lister Prize, 2021 EMBO Young Investigator Award, 2021 Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, the 2020 Philip Leverhulme Prize for Biological Sciences, the 2019 EMBL John Kendrew Award and a 2018 Vallee Research Scholarship.
Previous LMB recipients of the EMBO Gold Medal include M. Madan Babu (2019), Melina Schuh (2018), Sarah Teichmann (2015) and Jason Chin (2010).
Further references
Tanmay’s group page
LMB EMBO Awards & Honours
EMBO Press Release