We are honored to announce that Prof. Elizabeth Patton is the recipient of the CNV 2026 Award.

Liz Patton is looking back at a remarkable scientific career to date, but has also, on numerous occasions, supported the zebrafish (and other) scientific communities by devoting her energy and time to foster a spirit of collegiality and scientific excellence. She has also taken an active role in mentoring young scientists and supporting gender equality. Importantly, and to a degree which is rarely seen, she has served and is actively serving the community in many other ways such as being a panel member on grant reviewing boards, contributing to learned societies as a member or as president, and by (co-) organizing meetings. Liz is furthermore known as a fantastic mentor, and her diligent training has prepared a number of her students for acquiring staff positions in Denmark, the UK, and the US.

Liz obtained her PhD in 2001 in Toronto (Canada) in the lab of Prof. Mike Tyers, before carrying out post-doctoral work with Len Zon at Harvard Medical School (US). She then moved to Edinburgh (UK), first on a MRC Career Development Fellowship, then as an MRC Investigator (2014). She was appointed Professor and Personal Chair of Chemical Genetics at the University of Edinburgh in 2018, and is currently Head of the Disease Model Section in the MRC Human Genetics Unit. She also serves, since last year, as the Chair of Functional and Translational Genomics at the University of Edinburgh.

Scientifically, Liz started to work on cancer and melanoma formation during her post-doctoral work at Harvard, and her seminal paper in Current Biology on BRAF mutations promoting nevi formation and generating melanomas was the starting point to a prolific career in the area of melanoma research. Her work has made zebrafish ‘fashionable’ in this particular medical area, and she has been elected as the current President of the Melanoma Research Society (2024-2026). She has published an impressive amount of papers on the subject, and is one of those individuals where a particular research area in zebrafish is connected to a specific name. The work on melanoma has also enticed Liz’s interest about disease model in general, and she was the Founding President of the ZF Disease Model Society (2013-2015). She has also, since 2021, been the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms.

The list of services to the zebrafish community could be extended, be it her role on the EZS board, or the (co-)organization of 9 (!) meetings since 2017 - and many of us will still remember the fantastic 7^th European Zebrafish Meeting in Edinburgh 2011 which Liz co-organized. Importantly, Liz has also served as a panel member on grant reviewing boards, making sure that there is a spokesperson who can support work on zebrafish models.

In summary, Liz is an outstanding example of scientific excellence, mentoring success, and willingness to dedicate time to community service and shaping the learned societies she is part of.

Congratulations on winning the 2026 CNV Award!