The Biochemical Society is proud to offer the Krebs Memorial Scholarship to commemorate the life and work of Sir Hans Krebs, FRS (1900–1981). Krebs was a pioneer in the study of cellular respiration, notably earning a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953 for the discovery of the citric acid cycle, originally published in the Biochemical Journal. Krebs was also the recipient of our own Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins Memorial Lecture (now known as The Centenary Award) in 1961.The Krebs Memorial Fund was set up in 1982 in response to the generous contributions of Sir Han’s pupils and colleagues, with the aim to reward exceptional academic distinction and outstanding promise. The Krebs Scholarship is usually open to applicants of any nationality planning to study a PhD in biochemistry or an allied biomedical science. However, owing to the disruptions caused by the pandemic, we are delighted to expand our PhD support for 2022 to include those who have already started their PhD as well. For the first time in the history of the Krebs Memorial Fund, we are proud to award scholarships to three outstanding individuals for the 2022–2023 academic year. Find out more about our winners below:Science has always engrossed me, especially biology, which is triggering my curiosity. I have a special interest in cancer molecular mechanisms and pathways, as understanding these mechanisms enables us to create powerful therapies.I studied for a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree and graduated in 2011 from Damascus University in Syria, and had a special interest in biochemistry, biotechnology and molecular biology. I got the highest grade in my cohort for the molecular biology module at that time, and my Bachelor’s thesis was about the molecular mechanisms of cancer. After graduation, I worked in a private pharmacy for 5 years, during which time I was trying to be accepted for a Master’s degree. This was difficult due to the political discrimination in Syria, but I was accepted after 5 years, and in 2016 I started to pursue a Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry MSc. However, due to my determination to learn more about my favourite fields (biomedicine and biotechnology) I won an Erasmus Exchange Scholarship in Italy to study molecular biotechnology for a year at L’Aquila University where I had a wonderful experience because of the international environment.In September 2020, I started a Master’s in medical biotechnology at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Italy. This allowed me to acquire advanced knowledge in neoplastic disorders and functional genomics. In fact, my focus of the Master’s was apoptosis and autophagy, since I was doing my thesis in Molecular Pathology laboratory of Professor Ciro Isidoro. It was a great chance to work under the mentorship of such a scientist beside other lab supervisors and mates, who taught me how to think scientifically and critically, alongside the vital techniques that I have learnt, such as genetic manipulation of autophagy, 3D cell culture, cellular imaging and analysis of cell death. I graduated at the end of July 2022 and was honoured to have spent time within a highly professional and diverse environment.Fortunately, I was then accepted at the University of Liverpool in the UK, where I had been dreaming to live my whole life. I applied to the Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, in Professor Sonia Rocha’s laboratory, which matched my experience and passions. It was an important turning point in my life when she accepted me for the PhD position, and I am extremely grateful to her. I will research how hypoxia changes the balance between autophagy and apoptosis in different cancer types in 2D and 3D cultures with the involvement of the microenvironment. I hope that study will solve a part of the cancer puzzle and reveal possible targets for future therapies.My offer at Liverpool is self-funded; therefore, I searched on the internet to find a scholarship in the UK. I found the scholarship of Krebs Memorial Foundation luckily and I had the honour of being accepted. I would like to thank all members of the Biochemical Society Grants team for choosing me, especially Lucy Ollett for her friendly communication, and I am extremely proud to be a member of the Biochemical Society.DNA is the key to life, but even decades after the first sequencing of the human genome, the vast majority of it remains unknown. Once labelled as ‘junk DNA’, the non-coding genome is one of the next frontiers to be explored in biology, responsible for an estimated 90% of all disease-causing mutations which are yet to be discovered within the non-coding genome. Findings by the Imbeault Lab (University of Cambridge), where I am studying for a PhD, have recently broadened our understanding of a key player in this region, Krüppel Associated Box Zinc Finger Proteins (KZFPs), which are a large family of proteins that bind to specific sequences of DNA, silence transposable elements, and are responsible for a diversity of vital mechanisms, from regulating cell life cycles to turning genes ‘on’ or ‘off’. The Imbeault Lab has established that KZPFs are key components in rewiring gene regulation and impact critical biological processes (e.g., immune responses and cognitive functionality). However, as many functions and broader implications of KZFPs remain unknown, my PhD will explore the breadth of these by characterizing KZFPs and identifying their roles in inflammation, immune function and disease susceptibility.This research aims to elucidate the dynamic relationships between KZFPs and their targets with regard to inflammatory responses, as well as how these interactions influence immunity and human health overall. CRISPR will be used to mutate KZFPs and their specific targets in lymphoid and neutrophil cell lines, while, e.g., shRNA may be employed to down-regulate gene expression in primary cells. Additionally, transcriptomic analyses using RNA-Seq and epigenetic analyses using ChIP-Seq will indicate what specific genes are turned ‘on’ or ‘off’ in specific cell types and will help identify the binding sites of DNA-associated proteins. These parameters will be assayed during time courses of inflammation, using reagents that trigger toll-like receptors to induce inflammatory genetic programs.Through this research, I hope to contribute a new body of knowledge, pushing the boundaries on what is currently known about the hundreds of discovered KZFPs and their biological impacts. In turn, this will help advance the current understanding of their roles in the onset and progression of diseases and may ultimately influence treatment options (e.g., gene therapy) for those affected by diseases caused from KZFP-related inflammation.I am extremely grateful to the Biochemical Society for awarding me the Krebs Memorial Scholarship, along with Dr Michael Imbeault and the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge for giving me the opportunity to pursue this research. Having suffered from severe health issues for the majority of my life, I am very aware of how inflammatory diseases can impact every aspect of life, and as a result, I am incredibly motivated to contribute to this area of research, with the hope of one day aiding efforts to alleviate the suffering of those who struggle with conditions originating from non-coding regions.I grew up in Devon in the southwest of England as one of eight children in my family. I did relatively well at school but when I began my A-levels I became deeply interested in biology and began to read more about it in my free time. After completing A-levels, I went to study for a BSc in Biology at Durham University where I got to learn about a huge breadth of topics from outstanding professors. While at Durham, I became especially interested in cell biology and cell signalling, and had my first opportunities to take part in scientific research. I took part in two research projects while at Durham, with one using molecular techniques to sequence eDNA and the other focussed on studying the nuclear envelope through advanced microscopy. I greatly enjoyed both of these research experiences and was extremely pleased when I was awarded a Summer Studentship award by the British Society for Cell Biology for my work. My time on these research projects cemented my aspiration to complete a PhD and gave me the experience I needed to follow that goal.During my final year at Durham, I applied to a PhD program at the University of Oxford and was thrilled to be accepted into Professor Clive Wilson’s laboratory to study exosome signalling. Exosomes are a unique class of extracellular vesicle, which regulate some fascinating cell signalling processes including immunomodulation, cancer development and neurodegeneration. However, many core aspects of exosome biology and regulation remain poorly understood, largely because of limitations in experimental methods. I was therefore very excited to begin my PhD with the Wilson lab who have developed a unique Drosophila model which allows live-cell, ex vivo imaging of exosome biogenesis to take place for the first time. My PhD aims to combine imaging in the novel Drosophila system with protein-based biochemical techniques in human cells to answer fundamental questions about exosome biology.Unfortunately, however, my PhD was set to begin in October 2020 and many of these plans were soon disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. I was initially able to begin my research on schedule and was lucky to have a very supportive supervisor; however, as time went on COVID-19 caused significant delays to my work. In particular, despite promising findings in the Drosophila model, the accompanying proteomic experiments in human cells have not yet been able to begin.I am therefore extremely grateful to have been awarded the Krebs Scholarship. The support from this scholarship will give me the time to carry out these experiments so we can understand the molecular mechanisms involved in a novel exosome forming pathway and so we can understand its potential links to cancer signalling. The scholarship is also allowing me to focus exclusively on my PhD research and means that I can explore new possibilities for experiments with the time I have to further dissect this unique biological system.To find out more about the Krebs Memorial Scholarship, visit our website at https://www.biochemistry.org/grants-and-awards/grants-and-bursaries/krebs-memorial-scholarship/