An Emirates hat-trick for BMC Biology authors

This
week saw the annual BMC Research Awards presentations,
in the Emirates Stadium and with a sports science theme, to acknowledge
the forthcoming London Olympics. BMC Biology is
very happy to be able to congratulate the authors of three BMC Biology
papers that won awards reflecting the diversity of interesting topics
on which we publish:-

Alexei Korennykh and colleagues won the
General Biology award for their research on
how ADP binding can tune the kinase in the activation of Ire, the
remarkable bifunctional kinase-RNase whose activity directs the
alternative splicing of a key transcription factor in the rescue program
in response to the toxic accumulation of unfolded proteins in the
endoplasmic reticulum.

The Molecular and Cellular Science award
was taken by Judith Goodship and colleagues with an article
examining the molecular details behind Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, a
genetic disorder with distinctive growth defects caused by migration in
the Evc protein. The authors identified a novel binding partner for Evc –
Evc2 – and identify that both bind together within the basal body of
the cilia, activating the hedgehog signaling pathway.

Felipe
Vilas-Boas, Rita Fior, Kate Storey and colleagues were the recipients of
the prize for Neuroscience, Neurology and Psychiatry for their article
detailing a new reporter
for detecting the activity of the Notch
signaling pathway, which is involved in specification of neural cell
fates. This reporter is based on a downstream promoter from a Notch
target gene, Hes5-1, coupled with instability elements and a new
fluorescent protein (VNP), and provides a reliable readout of Notch
activity. The advantage is that the authors can now achieve single cell
resolution and real time imaging, enabling more dynamic analysis of
Notch activity.

Congratulations again to all our winners.

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