Archive by category | Awards

Method of the year, 2009

Method of the year, 2009

Nature Methods’ Method of the Year 2009 goes to induced pluripotency for its potential for biological discovery. A series of articles in the January issue of the journal — and a related video — showcase how induced pluripotency is coming into its own as a tool for discovery in both basic and disease biology, and explore the incredible impact this area promises to have in biological research. Also in this special feature is Methods to Watch, providing a glimpse of future Methods of the Year; and Reader’s Choice, noting methods nominated by readers and editors, and the votes that they  … Read more

Nature announces winners of 2009 mentoring awards

Nature announces winners of 2009 mentoring awards

On 1 December, the winners of the 2009 Nature Awards for Creative Mentoring – the 5th since the competition’s inception in 2005 – were announced at the British Embassy in Tokyo. For the 2009 awards, nominations were invited from Japan – the first time that researchers from an Asian country have been honoured. Two awards were made, one for lifetime achievement and the other for mid-career achievement. The Lifetime Achievement award went to Prof. Fumio Oosawa (above, left), while the mid-career award was given to Dr Hiroaki Kitano (right). Comments from the nominators can be seen here. The presentation ceremony  … Read more

Cover competition at EMBO Journal

Cover competition at EMBO Journal

EMBO Journal has just announced its annual competition for the best (scientific or non-scientific) cover images in 2010. The front cover of the 4 November issue (pictured) shows an assembly of many of the beautiful images that have been featured on the EMBO Journal since 2007; most of these had been submitted to previous competitions by scientists based throughout the world. Please visit the journal’s competition page for details of how you can participate in this year’s contest and submit your entries online. You can take a look at the gallery in the journal’s online archive for an impression of  … Read more

Nature Photonics on the Nobel prize for physics

There’s an interesting Editorial in Nature Photonics this month (November) about the 2009 Nobel prize for physics (Nat. Photon. 3, 605; 2009), won for two innovations in photonics that underpin society’s adoption of information technology. From the Editorial: “What is particularly interesting about this year’s choice of award is the strongly applied nature of the achievements and the prevalence of the technologies in today’s society. Indeed, this is probably one of the rare instances where many of those working outside science are likely to have both an immediate familiarity with the topics of the award and an appreciation of their usefulness. After all, in developed countries fibre-optic communications underpin phone networks and the internet, and digital cameras are now considered a ubiquitous item in many households.” The Nature Photonics editors are intrigued as to whether this year’s award will set a Nobel precedent for honouring practical applications of scientific research.  Read more

Vote for Method of the Year

From Nature Methods 6, 547 (2009): It is difficult to dispute the idea that some methodological developments have the power to strongly influence the pace and direction of scientific inquiry. For each of the last two years, Nature Methods has celebrated this by selecting a methodology we felt had demonstrated the potential for such an impact.  Read more

Nature, science, culture and film in New York this month

Nature editors and journalists are at the World Science Festival in New York this week (10- 14 June), reporting at In The Field blog, so track them there to see what’s happening at this wide-ranging festival of science, culture and society. Among the speakers are Alan Alda, Joshua Bell, John Barrow, Sean Carroll, Glenn Close, Harrison Ford, James Hanson, Margaret Livingstone, Sarah Hrdy, Paul Nurse, Harold Varmus, Frank Wilczek, Edward O. Wilson and a host of others.  Read more

Eppendorf and Nature announce 2009 young European investigator award

The Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators is presented to young scientists for outstanding achievements in the field of biomedical research based on methods of molecular biology. The award is presented in partnership with the scientific journal Nature. Last year’s winner was Simon Boulton of Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute, for his work on genome instability and cancer. A list of previous winners is available here. The deadline for applications for the 2009 award is 30 June, and details of how to apply can be found at Eppendorf’s website. Applications must include a title summarizing the submitted work, a curriculum vitae, a publication list, PDFs of up to three of the candidate’s published papers, and a 300-word (maximum) essay summarizing the submitted papers.  Read more

March of Dimes award winners interviewed

The June issue of Nature Reviews Genetics (10, 351; 2009) features an interview with Kevin Campbell of the University of Iowa, one of the joint winners of the 2009 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology. The other winner is Louis Kunkel of Harvard Medical School and The Children’s Hospital, Boston. The researchers were honoured for their pioneering work in identifying the genes and proteins that are disrupted in muscular dystrophies. The prize recognizes researchers whose work has contributed to understanding the science that underlies birth defects.  Read more