Wolfson RF awarded 2026 Lister Prize

Research Fellow Dr Girish Mali has been awarded the 2026 Lister Prize, one of the UK’s most prestigious awards for outstanding early-career researchers in biomedical and preventive medicine.

This year, eight exceptional biomedical scientists were selected as Lister Prize Fellows, each receiving £300,000 in flexible funding over five years to support innovative research tackling major biomedical challenges. The 2026 Fellows represent some of the UK’s most promising early-career biomedical researchers, recognised for the ambition, originality, and excellence of their work.

Dr Mali’s research investigates how cells assemble molecular motors known as dyneins, which power the movement of motile cilia in the lungs. Healthy cilia help clear pathogens from the airways, while defects in dynein assembly can lead to Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), a rare inherited condition that causes chronic respiratory disease. His research combines biochemical, structural, and cell biology approaches to better understand the disease and identify new avenues for treatment.

Commenting on the award, Dr Mali said: “It is a tremendous honour for me and my group to receive the Lister Prize this year. This award will enable us to apply cutting-edge tools to understand the mechanisms that make lung cilia move and model the related respiratory ciliopathy, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), to push the frontiers of cilia biology in health and disease. This new direction will help us tackle a long-standing challenge – finding a viable cure for PCD. I am thrilled to be joining the Lister community and look forward to forging exciting new collaborations”.

Our congratulations to Dr Mali on this outstanding achievement.

To read the full press release, please click here.