A Double International Honor for the Technion:
Prof. Debbie Lindell Recognized by Leading Scientific Societies
We are proud to share that Prof. Debbie Lindell from the Technion’s Faculty of Biology has received two prestigious international honors in 2026, recognizing her transformative contributions to marine microbial ecology and virology.
Prof. Lindell has been named the 2026 recipient of the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). This highly prestigious award recognizes a scientist who has made considerable contributions to knowledge in limnology or oceanography and whose future work promises a continued legacy of excellence. The award will be presented at the 2026 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.
In addition, Prof. Lindell has been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology’s Class of 2026, one of 63 distinguished scientists selected this year through a highly competitive, peer-reviewed process. The Academy, which serves as the honorific leadership group and scientific think tank of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), received 145 nominations from around the globe.
Notably, of the 63 elected fellows, Prof. Lindell is the only scientist selected from Israel, and indeed from the Middle East overall. Over the past 50 years, more than 2,700 scientists representing all subspecialties of the microbial sciences have been elected to the Academy.
Prof. Lindell, the Dresner Chair for Life Sciences and Medicine at the Technion, is internationally recognized as a leader in marine microbial ecology. Her pioneering research has reshaped our understanding of how viruses influence marine ecosystems, from single infected cells to processes spanning entire ocean basins.
Among her many groundbreaking contributions, Prof. Lindell’s early work revealed the lateral transfer of “auxiliary metabolic genes” between Prochlorococcus, one of the ocean’s most abundant photosynthetic organisms, and the viruses that infect it. Her research continues to uncover how viral infection shapes microbial ecology, evolution, and genetics, while advancing innovative methodologies such as the iPolony single-cell viral amplification technique.
Beyond her scientific achievements, Prof. Lindell is deeply committed to mentorship, leadership, and open science. She has supervised numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, directed an undergraduate scholars’ program at the Technion, served on international society and journal editorial boards, and led collaborative workshops to disseminate cutting-edge methodologies worldwide.
These recognitions from ASLO and ASM highlight not only Prof. Lindell’s extraordinary scientific impact but also her leadership within the global research community.
