Maximilian Kohl
“Article of the Month” award Mai 2026. “Extended Shine-Dalgarno motifs govern translation initiation in Staphylococcus aureus”. Nature Communications (2026).
Profile
Maximilian Kohl is 4th year PhD student in the team ‘RNA regulation in pathogenic bacteria’ in IBMC Strasbourg and currently 29 years old. He has dedicated his thesis work to the mechanistic details of translation initiation and its regulation in the major human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Facilitated by a highly supportive and interdisciplinary environment he was able to significantly advance ribosome profiling methodologies and discovered a plethora of newfound small protein-coding genes, unexpected regulatory features and novel mechanistic insights into how a mRNA translation start site is decoded in S. aureus. In a fruitful collaboration with the team ‘Large complexes involved in gene expression’ in IGBMC Illkirch, his biochemical work was further complemented by a Cryo-EM structure of a simplified ribosomal initiation complex using a natural mRNA, substantiating the newfound molecular details of translation initiation. His work has now been published in Nature Communications, sharing the findings of his first thesis chapter with the scientific community. In the last year of his PhD, he is currently pursuing yet unresolved open threads and discoveries that have emerged from his work. In doing so, he is following his scientific curiosity and passion about the translation process, the regulation of gene expression as well as bacteriophage biology.
The latests winners
Maximilian Kohl
IBMC (CNRS/Strasbourg University) – Strasbourg
Julius Martinkus
LISM (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université)
Serhii Pankivskyi
SABNP laboratory (Université Évry Paris-Saclay)
Safa Boussouar
Bioenergetics and Protein Engineering (BIP) laboratory, Marseille
Morgane Roger-Margueritat
TIMC laboratory, Grenoble
Léa Prochasson and Makram Mghezzi-Habellah
Curie Institute and Sorbonne University, Paris
Maëliss Germain
Rennes University, BRM Lab. (Bacterial RNAs in Medicine)
Olga Kolosova
IGBMC, Strasbourg
Mélisse Hamidi
Institute of Molecular Microbiology and Structural Biochemistry, Lyon
Zhao Jiangfeng
EMBL, Grenoble
Robine Maffo Woulefack
Sciences and Technologies Faculty,Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy
Alexia Godet
Université d’Aarthus, Danemark
Veronica Nuccetteli et Makram Mghezzi
Biology et Cell Modelisation Lab., ENS, Lyon and IBCP, Lyon
Akandé Eyitayo
IBGC, CNRS, Bordeaux University
Markel Martinez-Carranza
Pasteur Institute, Paris
Nour Ayoub
Institut Pasteur Paris, UPCité and INSERM UMRS-1124, Paris
Maximilian Kohl
IBMC (CNRS/Strasbourg University) – Strasbourg
“Article of the month” award May 2026
Julius Martinkus
LISM (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université)
“Article of the month” award April 2026
Serhii Pankivskyi
SABNP laboratory (Université Évry Paris-Saclay)
“Article of the month” award March 2026
Safa Boussouar
Bioenergetics and Protein Engineering (BIP) laboratory, Marseille
“Article of the month” award February 2026
Morgane Roger-Margueritat
TIMC laboratory, Grenoble
“Article of the month” award January 2026
Léa Prochasson and Makram Mghezzi-Habellah
Curie Institute and Sorbonne University, Paris
“Article of the month”award December 2025
Maëliss Germain
Rennes University, BRM Lab. (Bacterial RNAs in Medicine)
“Article of the Month” November 2025
Olga Kolosova
IGBMC, Strasbourg
“Article of the Month” award October 2025
Mélisse Hamidi
Institute of Molecular Microbiology and Structural Biochemistry, Lyon
“Article of the Month” award September 2025
Zhao Jiangfeng
EMBL, Grenoble
“Article of the Month” award July and August 2025
Robine Maffo Woulefack
Sciences and Technologies Faculty,Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy
“Article of the Month” award June 2025
Alexia Godet
Université d’Aarthus, Danemark
“Article of the month” May 2025
Veronica Nuccetteli et Makram Mghezzi
Biology et Cell Modelisation Lab., ENS, Lyon and IBCP, Lyon
“Article of the Month” award April 2025
Akandé Eyitayo
IBGC, CNRS, Bordeaux University
“Article of the month” March 2025
Markel Martinez-Carranza
Pasteur Institute, Paris
“Article of the Month” award February 2025
“Article of the Year” award 2025
Nour Ayoub
Institut Pasteur Paris, UPCité and INSERM UMRS-1124, Paris
“Article of the Month” award January 2025
Claire Husser
CNRS, UPR 9002, Architecture & Reactivity of RNA
Mickaël Guérin
CNRS, UMR7025, Génie Enzymatique et Cellulaire
Aria Gheeraeart
INSERM, Paris
Pauline Herviou
Institut Beatson, Glasgow
Charbel Alfeghali
Laboratoire d’Ingénierie Moléculaire et Physiopathologie Articulaire (IMoPA), Nancy
Yoann Santin
Institut de Duve, Bruxelles
Florent Waltz
Université de Strasbourg
Juliette Fédry
Institut Pasteur, Paris
Clément Charenton
École Polytechnique, Palaiseau
Thomas Eychenne
CEA, Saclay
Claire Husser
CNRS, UPR 9002, Architecture & Reactivity of RNA
Dina Surdin award 2026
Mickaël Guérin
CNRS, UMR7025, Génie Enzymatique et Cellulaire
Dina Surdin award winner 2025
Aria Gheeraeart
INSERM, Paris
Dina Surdin award 2024
Pauline Herviou
Institut Beatson, Glasgow
Dina Surdin award 2023
Charbel Alfeghali
Laboratoire d’Ingénierie Moléculaire et Physiopathologie Articulaire (IMoPA), Nancy
Dina Surdin award 2022
Yoann Santin
Institut de Duve, Bruxelles
Dina Surdin award 2021
Florent Waltz
Université de Strasbourg
Dina Surdin award 2020
Juliette Fédry
Institut Pasteur, Paris
Dina Surdin award 2019
Clément Charenton
École Polytechnique, Palaiseau
Dina Surdin award 2018
Thomas Eychenne
CEA, Saclay
Dina Surdin award 2017
Apply for the Dina Surdin Award
Applications must be submitted in March. The exact deadline is announced each year by email.
Documents to be submitted:
Downloadable application guidelines document below, a copy of the thesis manuscript.
Pascale Romby
CNRS, UPR 9002, ARN “RNA Architecture and Reactivity”, IBMC, Strasbourg
Pascale Lesage
CNRS et équipe de Biologie de l’instabilité des génomes, Paris
Carine Tisné
IBPC, Paris
Pascale Romby
CNRS, UPR 9002, ARN “RNA Architecture and Reactivity”, IBMC, Strasbourg
Marianne Grunberg-Manago award 2025
Pascale Lesage
CNRS et équipe de Biologie de l’instabilité des génomes, Paris
Marianne Grunberg-Manago award 2024
Carine Tisné
IBPC, Paris
Marianne Grunberg-Manago award 2023
Apply for the Marianne Grunberg-Manago Award
Applications must be submitted by email to martin.picard@ibpc.fr. The exact deadline will be announced annually via email.
Required Documents:
Updated CV, including a summary of the candidate’s work and publications, formatted according to the downloadable guide below.
Any application received after the specified deadline will not be considered.
Etienne BLANC
Institute for Research in Health, Environment and Work – INSERM UMRS 1035 – Rennes
Laure-Emmanuelle Zaragosi
Inserm, IPMC, Sophia-Antipolis
Maxime Wery
Institut Curie, Paris
Tamara Basta-Le-Berre
CNRS, UMR9198, Institut de Biologie Intégrative de la Cellule (I2BC), Gif-sur-Yvette
Ludovic Pelosi
Laboratoire UGA (Groupe Quinones Respiratoires), Grenoble
Cyril Bourgeois
ENS, Lyon
Célia Plisson-Chastang
CNRS, UMR 5099, Toulouse
Odil Porrua
CNRS, UMR7592 (Institut Jacques Monod), Paris
Hervé Seitz
CNRS, UMR 9002 (Institut de génétique humaine), Montpellier
Michaël Ryckelynck
Biologie Digitale de l’ARN, UPR 9002, Architecture et réactivité de l’ARN, IBMC, Strasbourg.
Martin PICARD
CNRS UMR 7099, Laboratoire de Biologie Physico-chimique des protéines membranaires, IBPC
Etienne BLANC
Institute for Research in Health, Environment and Work – INSERM UMRS 1035 – Rennes
Maurice Nicloux Award 2026
Laure-Emmanuelle Zaragosi
Inserm, IPMC, Sophia-Antipolis
Maurice Nicloux Award 2025
Maxime Wery
Institut Curie, Paris
Maurice Nicloux award 2024
Tamara Basta-Le-Berre
CNRS, UMR9198, Institut de Biologie Intégrative de la Cellule (I2BC), Gif-sur-Yvette
Maurice Nicloux award 2023
Ludovic Pelosi
Laboratoire UGA (Groupe Quinones Respiratoires), Grenoble
Maurice Nicloux award 2022
Cyril Bourgeois
ENS, Lyon
Maurice Nicloux award 2021
Célia Plisson-Chastang
CNRS, UMR 5099, Toulouse
Maurice Nicloux award 2020
Odil Porrua
CNRS, UMR7592 (Institut Jacques Monod), Paris
Maurice Nicloux award 2019
Hervé Seitz
CNRS, UMR 9002 (Institut de génétique humaine), Montpellier
Maurice Nicloux award 2018
Michaël Ryckelynck
Biologie Digitale de l’ARN, UPR 9002, Architecture et réactivité de l’ARN, IBMC, Strasbourg.
Maurice Nicloux award 2017
Martin PICARD
CNRS UMR 7099, Laboratoire de Biologie Physico-chimique des protéines membranaires, IBPC
Maurice Nicloux award 2016
Apply for the Maurice Nicloux Award
Applications must be submitted by March of each year. The exact deadline will be announced annually via email.
Required Documents:
Updated CV, including a summary of the candidate’s work and publications, formatted according to the downloadable guide below.
Any application received after the specified deadline will not be considered.
Our scientific awards
“Article of the Month” award
Honors a young researcher for a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Dina Surdin award
Rewards a young researcher for an outstanding PhD thesis in biochemistry or molecular biology.
Marianne Grunberg-Manago Award
Honors a woman who has made an outstanding contribution to public research, recognized for the significance of her work and her impact in her scientific field.
Maurice Nicloux award
Honors an established researcher for their overall contribution to the scientific community and to research in biochemistry or molecular biology.
