12 of the 44 Microbiology projects at ISEF 2026 won a Grand Award. Here's every one, with its abstract.
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology First Award
Fungal pathogens pose an enormous threat to global health, and a growing number of pathogens are developing resistance to our already limited arsenal of antifungals. Overexpression of efflux…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Second Award
Restoring severely eutrophic waters, especially in hardened urban river channels, is challenging and costly due to algal blooms, turbidity, microbial overgrowth, oxygen depletion, and nutrie…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Second Award
An estimated $6 billion USD will be lost in 2026 globally due to disease outbreaks in aquaculture facilities, particularly from Vibrio coralliilyticus, a pathogen that infects corals, fish a…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Third Award
Sunscreen and plastic pollution are widespread and pervasive in ocean waters, stressing marine life through chronic exposure. Previous studies have demonstrated certain fungi have the abilit…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Third Award
The bacterium Vibrio cholerae has evolved unipolar sheathed flagellum as the main organelle to drive motility and facilitate biofilm formation and colonization in host cells although the und…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Third Award
Burkitt's Lymphoma is an aggressive B-cell malignancy associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Over 95% of the world's population is persistently infected by EBV. While current tr…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Third Award
Human-pathogenic Vibrio, particularly Vibrio vulnificus, in Gulf oysters pose increasing public health risks as coastal waters warm. Although temperature–Vibrio relationships are known, stra…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Fourth Award
Food waste accounts for 58% of methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLF), one of the top three sources of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Over 96% of MSWLFs lack deco…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Fourth Award
In this project, we aimed to investigate the potential use of phages (bacterial viruses) as a form of biocontrol against bacterial plant pathogens. Our goal was to specifically test the effe…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Fourth Award
Chlamydia trachomatis (Ctr) causes over 130 million urogenital infections annually. Despite high genetic similarity, Chlamydia muridarum (Cm) exhibits different host tropism. Interspecies di…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Fourth Award
Emerging infectious diseases require accurate spatial risk assessments, yet current strategies in disease ecology lack a clear and reliable framework when direct disease data is lacking. One…
ISEF · 2026
Microbiology Fourth Award
CRISPR–Cas systems enable bacteria to defend against viral infection through RNA-guided nucleases and accessory proteins, though the functions of many accessory components remain unclear. Th…