{"id":589,"date":"2020-10-12T10:11:17","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T10:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/?p=589"},"modified":"2026-01-07T17:11:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:11:39","slug":"professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Prof. Westra became finalist for the 2020 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK in Life Sciences. He is recognized for discovering how ecology can drive the evolution of the bacterial CRISPR immune system to battle the viruses\u2014or phages\u2014that infect bacteria and how a greater understanding of the evolution of the CRISPR immune system may aid in tackling the problem of anti-microbial resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom celebrate the past accomplishments and future potential of the UK\u2019s most innovative young faculty-rank (academic staff) scientists and engineers working in the three disciplinary categories of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences &amp; Engineering, and Chemistry.&nbsp; The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK are generously supported by the&nbsp;Blavatnik Family Foundation and independently administered by the&nbsp;New York Academy of Sciences.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prof. Westra became finalist for the 2020 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK in Life Sciences. He is recognized for discovering how ecology can drive the evolution of the bacterial CRISPR immune system to battle the viruses\u2014or phages\u2014that infect bacteria and how a greater understanding of the evolution of the CRISPR immune system [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1575,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK - Westra Lab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK - Westra Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prof. Westra became finalist for the 2020 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK in Life Sciences. He is recognized for discovering how ecology can drive the evolution of the bacterial CRISPR immune system to battle the viruses\u2014or phages\u2014that infect bacteria and how a greater understanding of the evolution of the CRISPR immune system [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Westra Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-12T10:11:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T17:11:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hew223\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UniofExeter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UniofExeter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hew223\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hew223\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6c30b553204065b5aa69de74c91727\"},\"headline\":\"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-12T10:11:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-07T17:11:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/\"},\"wordCount\":153,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/\",\"name\":\"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK - Westra Lab\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-12T10:11:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-07T17:11:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/\",\"name\":\"Westra Lab\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Westra Lab\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/395\/2026\/01\/logo2-683x1024.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/395\/2026\/01\/logo2-683x1024.png\",\"width\":683,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"Westra Lab\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/UniofExeter\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6c30b553204065b5aa69de74c91727\",\"name\":\"hew223\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c480955745aec1cf90c271ce90197ac6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c480955745aec1cf90c271ce90197ac6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"hew223\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/author\/hew223\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK - Westra Lab","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK - Westra Lab","og_description":"Prof. Westra became finalist for the 2020 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK in Life Sciences. He is recognized for discovering how ecology can drive the evolution of the bacterial CRISPR immune system to battle the viruses\u2014or phages\u2014that infect bacteria and how a greater understanding of the evolution of the CRISPR immune system [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/","og_site_name":"Westra Lab","article_published_time":"2020-10-12T10:11:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-07T17:11:39+00:00","author":"hew223","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UniofExeter","twitter_site":"@UniofExeter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"hew223","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/"},"author":{"name":"hew223","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6c30b553204065b5aa69de74c91727"},"headline":"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK","datePublished":"2020-10-12T10:11:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-07T17:11:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/"},"wordCount":153,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/","name":"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK - Westra Lab","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-10-12T10:11:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-07T17:11:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/2020\/10\/12\/professor-westra-finalist-for-blavatnik-awards-for-young-scientists-in-the-uk\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Professor Westra finalist for Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/","name":"Westra Lab","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#organization","name":"Westra Lab","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/395\/2026\/01\/logo2-683x1024.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/395\/2026\/01\/logo2-683x1024.png","width":683,"height":1024,"caption":"Westra Lab"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/UniofExeter"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/person\/8d6c30b553204065b5aa69de74c91727","name":"hew223","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c480955745aec1cf90c271ce90197ac6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c480955745aec1cf90c271ce90197ac6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"hew223"},"url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/author\/hew223\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1575"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":591,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions\/591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/westralab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}