October 19, 2012
Sylvia Cremer receives Lower Austrian Science Award
IST Austria professor presented with prize by governor of Lower Austria • Cremer’s research focus on social behavior in ant societies • Scientist portrayed in new book on researchers in Lower Austria
Professor Sylvia Cremer is one of the four recipients of the Science Award of the state of Lower Austria 2012. Cremer was presented with the award by the governor of Lower Austria, Erwin Pröll, at a ceremony at Grafenegg Palace this evening. The scientist expressed her gratitude for the prize and the generous support the state of Lower Austria has demonstrated in supporting the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria at its campus in Klosterneuburg.
Sylvia Cremer is an Evolutionary Biologist interested in behavioral ecology and evolutionary immunology in ant societies. With her team, she studies individual and collective anti-pathogen defenses of ants by a combination of behavioral observations, physiological and molecular measures of immunity, and chemical analyses. Colonies of social insects, such as ants, face a high risk of disease transmission among the group members. Despite this risk, epidemics occur extremely rarely in social insect colonies, as they have evolved collective anti-pathogen defenses that complement the individual immune systems of group members. The Cremer group studies all aspects of social immune defenses in ants to learn more about disease management and epidemiology in societies.
