The Joan A. Steitz Postdoc Prize
The Joan A. Steitz Postdoc Prize is presented annually to outstanding LMB postdocs who have been in post for fewer than six years.
The award is named in honour of Joan A. Steitz, who joined the LMB as a postdoc in 1967 when she embarked on a challenging project to discover how ribosomes know where to load onto messenger RNA to begin protein translation.
Listen to Joan’s reflections on her time at the LMB in her LMB Through the Years interview.

Previous Winners
Brenner Postdoc Prize
From 2018 to 2021 the Joan A. Steitz Postdoc Prize was known as the Brenner Postdoc Prize.
| Year | Winner(s) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Gisela Otten and Girish Ram Mali |
| 2020 | Francesca Coscia, Takanori Nakane and Laura Pellegrini |
| 2018 | Claudio Alfieri, Ana Casañal, Benjamin Falcon, Juan Garaycoechea and Simonas Masiulis |
Postdoc/Young Group Leader Prize
From 1984 to 2008 there was a previous prize awarded to postdocs or young group leaders, for an outstanding piece of research that had a substantial impact.
| Year | Winner(s) |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Yoshiyuki Matsuura |
| 2004 | Stephen Williams |
| 2003 | Mario de Bono |
| 2002 | No winner |
| 2001 | No winner |
| 2000 | Daniela Stock and Brian Wimberly |
| 1999 | David Owen |
| 1998 | Paul Dear |
| 1997 | Jan Löwe |
| 1996 | Matthew Freeman |
| 1995 | Bill Scott |
| 1994 | Sean Munro |
| 1993 | Andy Newman |
| 1992 | No winner |
| 1991 | Masashi Suzuki |
| 1990 | No winner |
| 1989 | No winner |
| 1988 | Hugh Pelham |
| 1987 | Kim Nasmyth |
| 1986 | Michael Neuberger |
| 1985 | No winner |
| 1984 | Tim Richmond and Greg Winter |