Lake County Gazette

Laurel Robbins, a 2023 graduate of Lake Forest College, has been awarded the 2025 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award. Robbins learned about her selection while surrounded by friends and immediately shared the news with her parents.

“Finding out I was awarded this fellowship was extremely exciting,” Robbins said. “Once I found out I had been awarded the fellowship, the first people I told were my parents, who are my biggest supporters.”

Robbins completed her undergraduate studies in biochemistry and molecular biology at Lake Forest College and is now pursuing a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder. The fellowship provides funding for tuition, stipend, and fees for three years of graduate study. Robbins noted that this financial support offers significant relief given current challenges in scientific research funding. The award will also help expand her professional network among other graduate students from various disciplines.

At CU Boulder, Robbins is involved in research on bacterial immune systems that protect against bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria.

“I’m passionate about this project because these systems have fascinating molecular biology, and they allow us to better understand the arms race between hosts and their pathogens,” Robbins said.

Her work aims to clarify general immune strategies used by both bacteria and humans to defend against viral threats. Insights from this research may also contribute to advances in phage therapy, an emerging approach to treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.