Congratulations to Yoshinori Ohsumi, of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on autophagy, the process by which a cell “recycles its content,” and his identification of genes responsible for this process.
Dr. Ohsumi’s research has shown how “self-eating” in cells provides them with the energy and components necessary to renew themselves, helping organisms resist starvation, among other types of stress. Autophagy also helps cells to fight infections and prevent the negative consequences of aging.
Parkinson’s, cancer, and type 2 diabetes were later linked to disruptions in autophagy, leading scientists to target this process in order to develop treatments for these diseases.
Among them is Dianne K. Newman, a Microbiologist at the California Institute of Technology and of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is also an Editorial Committee Member of the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Dianne Newman, 2016 MacArthur Fellow, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, 09.08.2016.
Dr. Newman’s research in microbiology spans across disciplines, from geobiology to biomedicine: she and her group study bacteria that thrive in low-oxygen environments, such as bacteria that “breathe” arsenic or iron, as was the case in Earth’s early atmosphere. This work has taken them to study the metabolism of Pseudonoma aeruginosa, an opportunistic bacterium that thrives in mucus-filled lungs where oxygen is limited, such as those of cystic fibrosis patients. This could open the door to more effective treatment of these infections. Browse the articles she wrote for Annual Reviews here.
Rebecca Richards-Kortum, 2016 MacArthur Fellow, BioScience Research Collaborative at Rice University, Houston, August 31, 2016.
Dr. Richards-Kortum and her students create cheap and effective solutions that seek to redress imbalances in access to health care across the world. Their products have helped overcome challenges in the diagnosis of various types of cancers, but also for the care of premature newborns or babies with jaundice. Read her article for the Annual Review of Physical Chemistryhere.
Photo credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
They helped identify how all animals react to variations in oxygen. They share the award with Peter J. Ratcliffe, of Oxford University. Click on their names to read the articles they wrote for various Annual Reviews journals.
2. Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award:
He shares the award with Ralf F. W. Bartenschlager, of the University of Heidelberg, and Michael J. Sofia, of Arbutus Biopharma. Drs. Rice and Bartenschlager were able to find a way to make the Hepatitis C virus replicate in laboratory conditions, which allowed research to proceed. Dr. Sofia then developed a drug that made it possible to treat the disease. Click on Dr. Rice’s name to browse the articles he wrote for various Annual Reviews journals.
3. Lasker-Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science:
Bruce M. Alberts, of the University of California, San Francisco.
He was recognized for his work in molecular biology and his efforts toward science education. Click on his name to browse the articles he wrote for the Annual Review of Biochemistry.
The award was established in 1977 through a gift from Annual Reviews together with the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) to recognize the importance of reviews to the scientific method. Annual Reviews currently sponsors the award in its entirety.
The NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing recognizes authors whose publications have reviewed important subjects of research, rendering a significant service to science and influencing the course of scientific thought. Since its establishment, the award has been presented to 38 recipients, two who have gone on to win a National Medal of Science in the Biological Sciences and two who proceeded to win a Nobel Prize.
This year’s selection committee defines “reviews” broadly to include not only formal review articles but any publication that synthesizes and critiques existing research, offering useful new perspectives on a field. The award will honor the cumulative effect of the candidate’s writings, which may be embodied in multiple publications. To nominate a review author in the field of Criminology, you must submit your application by Monday, October 3, 2016.
Annual Reviews was founded as a nonprofit organization to synthesize the ever-increasing volume of scientific research and data in a growing number of disciplines. Since the publication of the first Annual Review of Biochemistry in 1932 to our newest journal the Annual Review of Criminology in 2018, Annual Reviews has brought to its readers the best in comprehensive scientific review literature.
The NAS is a private, nonprofit society of distinguished scholars. Established by an Act of Congress, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the NAS is charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. The NAS is committed to furthering science in America, and its members are active contributors to the international scientific community.
Annual Reviews is a non-profit publisher of highly-cited reviews that synthesize the research literature in clear and compelling style to stimulate discussion about the science that shapes our lives.
This prestigious award – two recipients have gone on to win the National Medal of Science and another two the Nobel Prize – has been presented annually since 1979 to recognize authors, whose reviews have synthesized extensive and difficult material, rendering a significant service to science and influencing the course of scientific thought. The field rotates among biological, physical, and social sciences.
The NAS dome depicts an early 20th Century view of Science. Photo credit: Dan W Bailey.
We’re delighted that Sergio Verdú, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, will receive the NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing on May 1st 2016 at their stunning building in Washington D.C., presented this year in computer science. Our President and Editor-In-Chief, Richard Gallagher (current) and Samuel Gubins (former) will attend the ceremony.
Sergio won “For consistent and distinguished contributions of review material in information theory, and for a leading role in developing high-quality review journals covering broad areas of the information sciences”. He is a leader in information theory, has contributed numerous books, monographs, book chapters, and review papers, many of which have become essential reading for those working in information and communication theory.
This award serves to highlight the value that review articles add to the research community. Reading one is like being transported into the laboratory of the leading scientists in the area, who explain what’s going on in the field. Readers come away with a richer understanding than they could gain in any other way and this is why Annual Reviews is a treasured resource.
Note: The 2017 NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing will be for contributions in the field of Criminology. Nominations must be submitted online no later than 11:59 pm EDT on Monday, October 3, 2016, so register today and share your pick.
Annual Reviews is a non-profit publisher of highly-cited review articles that synthesize the research literature in clear and compelling style to stimulate discussion about the science that shapes our lives.
Every year, the American Physiological Society (APS) manages the Annual Reviews Award for Scientific Reviewing which is given for excellence in providing systematic, periodic examinations of scholarly advances, and provoking discussion that will lead to new research activity. The award recognizes an APS member who has written scientific reviews and has helped provide an enhanced understanding of the area of physiology reviewed.
Receiving the Annual Reviews Award for Scientific Reviewing
This year two successful candidates, Barbara Cannon and Jan Nedergaard, shared the award which includes a contribution to travel to the annual Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego from April 2-6th where they received their recognition plaque.
Sunrise in Stockholm, image credit: Chas B, Flickr, CC BY
Barbara and Jan are both professors in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. They won their award for a series of insightful reviews over the years, not least the fundamental overview in Physiological Reviews on brown adipose tissue 2004. Their review 2007 in American Journal of Physiology (Endocrinology and Metabolism) collected data, overlooked by the metabolic community, that unexpectedly demonstrated that even adult humans possess active brown adipose tissue, a paper that opened for today’s broad interest in this tissue and pointed to the possibility that it can counteract the development of obesity and can ameliorate the metabolic syndrome, if kept active in adults.
This Annual Reviews award serves to highlight the value that review articles add to the research community. Reading one is like being transported into the laboratory of the leading scientists in the area, who explain what’s going on in the field. Readers come away with a richer understanding than they could gain in any other way and this is why Annual Reviews is a treasured resource.
Dr. Ohsumi’s research has shown how “self-eating” in cells provides them with the energy and components necessary to renew themselves, helping organisms resist starvation, among other types of stress. Autophagy also helps cells to fight infections and prevent the negative consequences of aging.
Annual Reviews is pleased to sponsor 
Every year, the American Physiological Society (APS) manages the 
