Stefan Abreu Fernandes, MSc student of the CEIB group, won the award for the best scientific poster with the presentation Phylogeny and evolution of immune gene families in Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Notothenioids.

This study is important because it provided new results that are necessary for the improvement of knowledge on the importance of the immune system in notothenioid fish and their adaptation to Antarctic conditions.

To receive this award “is a good start for my future PhD application as it provides recognition for my master thesis for which I spend a period of six months at the Shanghai Ocean University and was supervised by Prof. Adelino Canário (CCMAR) and Prof. Liangbiao Chen (Shanghai Ocean University)”, said the student. In addition, it reinforces the importance of collaboration between researchers “since this work is the result of the partnership between the University of Algarve, the CCMAR and the Shanghai Ocean University”.

The prize was awarded at the XI Portuguese Conference on Polar Sciences held at the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE), in Coimbra, on 24 and 25 October.