Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Editors-in-Chief, Dr. Cord Brakebusch and Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny, we wish to acknowledge our reviewers who so generously offer their time to review the papers submitted to Cells by presenting an award to the reviewers who have demonstrated their dedication, professionalism, and timeliness in reviewing manuscripts for Cells.

What are the pre-requisites to be eligible for this award?
– All of the reviewers for Cells in 2023 will be automatically included.

Selection Criteria:
– Number of review reports;
– The quality and timeliness of review reports.

What will the winners receive?
There will be three winners this year. One winner will receive the first prize, and two winners will receive the second prize:
– First Prize: CHF 500 + one free publication in 2024 after peer review;
– Second Prize: one free publication in 2024 after peer review;
– Each winner will receive an electronic certificate.

When will the winner be announced?
– The winners will be announced at the end of February 2024 on the journal website.

How can I make myself eligible?
– If you have not yet reviewed papers for Cells, but would like to do so, you can register as a reviewer at the following link: https://susy.mdpi.com/volunteer/profile/edit.

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the “Cells 2023 Best Paper Award” for research and review articles published in Cells in 2021. Three review and three research articles will receive an award each. The papers will be selected after a thorough evaluation by the journal Award Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny.

Eligibility for the Award:
– Papers published in Cells in 2021;
– Open to all career levels;
– Both regular and Special Issue submissions will be considered.

Selection Criteria:
The papers will be selected by the journal Award Committee according to the following criteria:
– Scientific merit and broad impact;
– Originality of the research objectives and/or the ideas presented;
– Creativity of the study design or uniqueness of the approaches and concepts;
– Clarity of presentation;
– Citations and downloads.

The Prize:
– The first prize will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Cells in 2024 after peer review;
– The second and third prizes will have a free paper in Cells in 2024 after peer review;
– Each winner will also receive a certificate.

The winners will be announced on the journal website in October 2023.

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Cells is now inviting nominations for the Cells 2023 Young Investigator Award. This prize will be given to one young investigator in recognition of their excellence in the fields of cell biology, molecular biology, and biophysics. All nominations will be assessed by an Award Evaluation Committee led by the Editors-in-Chief, Dr. Cord Brakebusch and Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny.

The Prize
– CHF 2000;
– Option to publish one paper free of charge in Cells after peer review before the end of 2024;
– An electronic certificate.

Eligibility and Requirements
– Must have received their PhD no more than 10 years prior to 31 December 2023;
– Must have produced ground-breaking research and made a significant contribution to the advancement of cell biology, molecular biology, and biophysics;
– Candidates must be nominated by senior scientists.

List of Documents for Nomination
– Detailed Curriculum Vitae, including an updated publication list and a list of the researcher’s own research grants;
– Scanned copy of doctorate certificate;
– Signed nomination letters from two established senior scientists.

Schedule
Open for nomination: 10 March 2023
Nomination deadline: 30 September 2023
Winner announcement: 31 December 2023

How to Submit Nominations?
The nominations must be submitted online.

Contact
Ms. Eileen Gao
Marketing Specialist
Email: [email protected]

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Cells 2022 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Cells Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Cells. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround are maintained.

Dr. Takujiro Homma
Department of Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan.
Research Interests: oxidative stress; proteasome; autophagy; ferroptosis; liver injury; neurodegenerative diseases; protein aggregation; cell death; cell cycle; innate immunity; prion diseases; male reproduction; ROS

Dr. Julian Freen-van Heeren
Sanquin Diagnostic Services, Immunomonitoring Laboratory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Research Interests: T cells; post-transcriptional regulation; Crispr; car T cells; type II interferons; TIL therapy; il-2; TNF-a; IFN-g; tlr2; TLR7

Dr. Linlin Guo
The Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, USA.
Research Interests: molecular; pharmacology; biology medicine; peptide vaccine; combination therapy; allergic asthma

Dr. Kishor Pant
Hormel Institute, a Medical Research Center, University of Minnesota, Austin, USA.
Research Interests: hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, metabolism, viral hepatitis; cilia; polycystic liver diseases; cellular metabolism

Dr. Gundula Schulze-Tanzil
Department of Anatomy, Paracelsus Medical University, Nuremberg, Germany.
Research Interests: cartilage; osteoarthritis; ligaments and tendons

The Prize for Each Winner:

• CHF 500;
• An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Cells in 2023 after peer review;
• A certificate.

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Thank you for your continuous support. We regret to inform you that the deadline for announcing the winner of the Cells 2022 PhD Thesis Award has been postponed to 10 April 2023. The editorial office would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dear Colleagues,

The journal Cells is inviting applications for the 2022 PhD Thesis Award. This prize will be awarded to one PhD student or doctor who has produced a highly anticipated academic potential thesis. The applications will be assessed by an evaluation committee led by Editors-in-Chief Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny and Prof. Dr. Cord Brakebusch.

Eligibility and Requirements:
– The candidate must be a PhD student or a doctor who has produced a highly anticipated academic potential thesis;
– The PhD thesis must be their original work;
– The PhD thesis must be defended between 31 October 2021 to 15 December 2022.

Applicants are also required to submit the following documents:
– An executive summary of their PhD thesis (in English) of around 3000 words;
– A letter from their PhD supervisor recommending the candidate for consideration for this award;
– The candidate’s CV, including a list of publications connected with the thesis;
– An electronic copy of the PhD thesis;
– A scanned copy of their PhD diploma (or certificate of studying at a school or research institute as a PhD student going to graduate or participate in graduation thesis defenses).

Selection Criteria:
– Quality of resume and publications;
– Relevance of the candidate and research description;
– Novelty of the candidate’s PhD thesis;
– Strength of the recommendation letter;
– Anticipated academic potential;
– Originality and impact of the research.

Prizes:
– A monetary prize (CHF 800);
– A certificate.

The application deadline is 15 December 2022. The winner will be announced on the Cells website on 10 April 2023.

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the Cells 2022 Best Paper Award, who were chosen by a selection committee chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny. Following a review process by the Award Evaluation Committee, four winners were selected.

Article:
Boosting the Biogenesis and Secretion of Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes
By Jinli Wang, Emily E. Bonacquisti, Adam D. Brown and Juliane Nguyen
Cells 2020, 9(3), 660; doi:10.3390/cells9030660

Disharmonic Inflammatory Signatures in COVID-19: Augmented Neutrophils’ but Impaired Monocytes’ and Dendritic Cells’ Responsiveness
By Zuzana Parackova, Irena Zentsova, Marketa Bloomfield, Petra Vrabcova, Jitka Smetanova, Adam Klocperk, Grigorij Mesežnikov, Luis Fernando Casas Mendez, Tomas Vymazal and Anna Sediva
Cells 2020, 9(10), 2206; doi:10.3390/cells9102206

Review:
A Structural View of SARS-CoV-2 RNA Replication Machinery: RNA Synthesis, Proofreading and Final Capping
By Maria Romano, Alessia Ruggiero, Flavia Squeglia, Giovanni Maga and Rita Berisio
Cells 2020, 9(5), 1267; doi:10.3390/cells9051267

Osteoblast-Osteoclast Communication and Bone Homeostasis
By Jung-Min Kim, Chujiao Lin, Zheni Stavre, Matthew B. Greenblatt and Jae-Hyuck Shim
Cells 2020, 9(9), 2073; doi:10.3390/cells9092073

Please join us in congratulating the winners. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Cells.

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Cells 2022 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Pedro Rodrigues.

Dr. Pedro Rodrigues is currently an investigator at the Biodonostia Health Research Institute. His research interests are chiefly concerned with translational medicine, more specifically focusing on liver diseases such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and liver cancer. After achieving his PhD in pharmacy (Cum Laude) from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, Portugal, he proposed a new therapeutic approach for NAFLD patients. Following this, he continued to finish his research on miR-21, OCA, and another drug (INT-767) that is currently under pre-clinical study, focusing on the progression of NAFLD toward liver cancer. Since March 2018, Dr. Rodrigues has moved to the Liver Diseases Group at the Biodonostia Health Research Institute (Donostia University Hospital, San Sebastian, Spain) to conduct an international postdoctoral fellowship and then start his own independent research line. His research group is chiefly dedicated to the study of molecular mechanisms that are involved in liver pathobiology (i.e., non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, fibrosis, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and cholangiocarcinoma) and is looking for novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and tools. During this period, his research has mainly been concerned with hepatobiliary pathophysiology, focusing specifically on the study of the molecular mechanisms that govern biliary carcinogenesis, in the quest for new, non-invasive biomarkers for both liver and metabolic diseases (mainly NAFLD). Furthermore, Dr. Rodrigues is currently the Principal Investigator or Associate Investigator of numerous National and International Research Projects (EU Horizon 2020, La Caixa, ISCIII, PSC Partners (USA), PSC Supports (UK), AMMF-CCA (UK), Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), Basque Government, IKERBASQUE Foundation, CIBERehd, Incyte Pharma, etc.).

As the awardee, Dr. Pedro Rodrigues will receive an honorarium of CHF 2000, an offer to publish a paper in Cells free of charge before the end of 2023 after peer review, and an electronic certificate.

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee members for their evaluation of the many excellent nominations.

Prof. Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny
Editor-in-Chief, Cells

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Cells 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Cells Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Cells in 2021. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround is maintained.

Congratulations to the following reviewers (in alphabetical order by lastname), who have been selected to receive an Outstanding Reviewer Award in recognition of their significant contributions over the past year.

Bonam, Srinivasa Reddy
Université de Paris, Paris, France

Homma, Takujiro
Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan

Hwang, In Koo
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

Kobeissy, Firas
University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

Rebelo, Sandra
University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Each of them will receive CHF 500 and a certificate of appreciation, as well the chance to publish a paper in Cells after peer review free of charge in 2022.

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Cells 2021 Highly Cited Paper Awards. All papers published between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020 in Cells were considered for the award. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers and citations, the top three winning papers have been selected.

Rank 1: CHF 1000
miRNAs as Biomarkers in Disease: Latest Findings Regarding Their Role in Diagnosis and Prognosis
By Carmen Elena Condrat, Dana Claudia Thompson, Madalina Gabriela Barbu, Oana Larisa Bugnar, Andreea Boboc, Dragos Cretoiu, Nicolae Suciu, Sanda Maria Cretoiu and Silviu Cristian Voinea
Cells 2020, 9(2), 276; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9020276

Rank 2: CHF 800
scRNA-seq Profiling of Human Testes Reveals the Presence of the ACE2 Receptor, A Target for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Spermatogonia, Leydig and Sertoli Cells
By Zhengpin Wang and Xiaojiang Xu
Cells 2020, 9(4), 920; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9040920

Rank 3: CHF 500
A Structural View of SARS-CoV-2 RNA Replication Machinery: RNA Synthesis, Proofreading and Final Capping
By Maria Romano, Alessia Ruggiero, Flavia Squeglia, Giovanni Maga and Rita Berisio
Cells 2020, 9(5), 1267; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9051267

Each winner receive an electronic certificate and the opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Cells in 2022 after peer review.

We would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups of the above exceptional papers for their contributions to Cells.

Dear Colleagues,

As the Editors-in-Chief of Cells, we are pleased to announce the winners of the “Cells 2021 Best Paper Awards for Anniversary Special Issues”. The awards have been granted to:

One first prize: CHF 1000 and a waiver to publish in Cells after peer review

• “Overexpression of an Agave Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase Improves Plant Growth and Stress Tolerance”
  Degao Liu et al.
  doi:10.3390/cells10030582

Two second prizes: CHF 800 and CHF 1000 voucher to publish in Cells after peer review

• “Weight Pulling: A Novel Mouse Model of Human Progressive Resistance Exercise”
  Wenyuan G. Zhu et al.
  doi:10.3390/cells10092459
• “Affecting HEK293 Cell Growth and Production Performance by Modifying the Expression of Specific Genes”
  Laura Abaandou et al.
  doi:10.3390/cells10071667

Three third prizes: CHF 500 and CHF 600 voucher to publish in Cells after peer review

• “Comparing Biochemical and Raman Microscopy Analyses of Starch, Lipids, Polyphosphate, and Guanine Pools during the Cell Cycle of Desmodesmus quadricauda”
  Šárka Moudříková et al.
  doi:10.3390/cells10010062
• “Gut Microbiota and Neuroplasticity”
  Julia Murciano-Brea et al.
  doi:10.3390/cells10082084
• “The Genomic Landscape of Thyroid Cancer Tumourigenesis and Implications for Immunotherapy”
  Amandeep Singh et al.
  doi:10.3390/cells10051082

In addition to these prizes, we have also selected ten papers which represented outstanding contributions to our journal. Each outstanding contribution winner will receive a 600 CHF voucher to publish in Cells after peer review. More information about the outstanding contribution winners can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cells/announcements/3571.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups of the aforementioned exceptional papers and for their contributions to the Cells 10th Anniversary Special Issue. We would also like to thank the Award Committee for voting and helping with these awards.

Kind regards,
Editors-in-Chief
Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny and Prof. Dr. Cord Brakebusch, Cells

Dear Colleagues,

As the Editors-in-Chief of Cells, it is our great pleasure to announce the winner of the Cells 2021 PhD Thesis Award. This prize was aimed to be awarded to a PhD student who is about to graduate or participate in their graduation defense.

The award has been granted to:
“Microbial Activators of the Inflammasome”
By Anukriti Mathur, Australian National University, Australia.

The winner will receive CHF 800 and a certificate.

On behalf of the evaluation committee, we congratulate the winner on her accomplishments. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups in the above exceptional thesis for their contributions to Cells, and to thank the Award Committee for voting and helping with this award.

Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny
Prof. Dr. Cord Brakebusch
Editors-in-Chief, Cells

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Cells 2021 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Uri Ben-David.

Dr. Uri Ben-David is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Dr. Uri Ben-David’s research interests are cancer aneuploidy, genomic evolution of cancer models and stem cells, and cancer. Dr. Ben-David received his PhD in 2014 and has an outstanding publication record, with a total number of citations of 5088 and a Hirsch index of 27. He is clearly a rising star in the field of cells and cancer. As a single applicant, Dr. Ben-David has secured funding of more than USD 3 million since 2017. This is an outstanding achievement in today’s competitive environment. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Uri Ben-David for his outstanding achievements.

As the awardee, Dr. Uri Ben-David will receive an honorarium of 2000 CHF, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before the end of 2022 in Cells after peer-review.

We would like to thank all the nominators from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the many excellent nominations.

Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny,
Editor-in-Chief, Cells

Dear Colleague,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Cells 2021 Best Video Abstract Awards. After a thorough evaluation of the novelty aspect and video quality, the two winning video abstracts, which were voted by readers and nominated by the Award Committee, have been selected.

Iron Oxide Nanoparticle-Induced Autophagic Flux Is Regulated by Interplay between p53-mTOR Axis and Bcl-2 Signaling in Hepatic Cells
By: Mariia Uzhytchak, Barbora Smolková, Mariia Lunova, Milan Jirsa, Adam Frtús, Šárka Kubinová, Alexandr Dejneka and Oleg Lunov
https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9041015

Prognostic Role of Blood NETosis in the Progression of Head and Neck Cancer
By: Anna Sophie Decker, Ekaterina Pylaeva, Alexandra Brenzel, Ilona Spyra, Freya Droege, Timon Hussain, Stephan Lang and Jadwiga Jablonska
https://doi.org/10.3390/cells8090946

The winning video abstracts have been uploaded to their corresponding paper webpages. The authors will receive an award of CHF 1000, an electronic certificate and an opportunity to publish one paper free of charge before the end of 2021, after the normal peer-review procedure.

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the Cells 2021 Best Paper Awards, who were chosen by a selection committee chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny. Following a review process by the Evaluation Committee, four winners were selected. The recipients of the “Cells 2021 Best Paper Awards” are as follows:

Article:

Combined Inhibition of TGF-β Signaling and the PD-L1 Immune Checkpoint Is Differentially Effective in Tumor Models
By Heng Sheng Sow, Jiang Ren, Marcel Camps, Ferry Ossendorp and Peter ten Dijke
Cells 2019, 8(4), 320.

Exosome Treatment Enhances Anti-Inflammatory M2 Macrophages and Reduces Inflammation-Induced Pyroptosis in Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy
By Dinender K. Singla, Taylor A. Johnson and Zahra Tavakoli Dargani
Cells 2019, 8(10), 1224.

Prizes: the winning articles will receive 500 CHF, one free publication in 2021 after normal peer review procedure.

Review:

Overview of Extracellular Vesicles, Their Origin, Composition, Purpose, and Methods for Exosome Isolation and Analysis
By Laura M. Doyle and Michael Zhuo Wang
Cells 2019, 8(7), 727.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine
By Yu Han, Xuezhou Li, Yanbo Zhang, Yuping Han, Fei Chang and Jianxun Ding
Cells 2019, 8(8), 886.

Prizes: the winning reviews will receive one free publication in 2021 after normal peer review procedure.

Please join us in congratulating the winners of Cells 2021 Best Paper Awards. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Cells.

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the Cells 2021 Academic Conference Grants, who were chosen by a selection committee chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny.

Congratulations to the following two conference applicants who have been selected to each receive a 2000 CHF Academic Conference Grant to promote academic exchange in any form:

Conference Name: LS2 annual meeting
Conference homepage:  https://annual-meeting.ls2.ch/

Conference Name: The Dynamic Cell IV
Conference homepage: https://www.biochemistry.org/events/dynamic-cell-iv/

Please join us in congratulating the winners of the Cells 2021 Academic Conference Grants. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support of Cells.

Kind regards,

Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

The Editorial Board and the Editorial Team of Cells gratefully acknowledge all those who have kindly given their time to review papers submitted to Cells and are delighted to announce the winners of the 2020 Cells Outstanding Reviewer Awards. The criteria used for the selection of the winning reviewers included the number of papers reviewed and the quality and speed of the reviews.

Congratulations to the following referees (in alphabetical order by surname), who have been selected to receive an Outstanding Reviewer Award in recognition of their significant contributions over the past year:

Zdenek Andrysic, University of Colorado Boulder

Tito Calì, University of Padova

Kevin Dzobo, University of Cape Town

Francesca S. Forini, Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica del CNR

Each of them will receive 500 CHF and a Certificate of Appreciation, as well the chance to publish a paper in Cells free of charge in 2020.

The Cells Outstanding Reviewer Award will be held regularly at the beginning of each year. The winners will be selected based on their contributions in the previous year.

Dear Colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the 2020 Cells Best Paper Award, who were chosen by a selection committee chaired by theEditor-in-Chief, Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny.

The following papers, in no particular order, won the 2020 Cells Best Paper Award:

Article:

CDK5RAP2 Is an Essential Scaffolding Protein of the Corona of the Dictyostelium Centrosome
Cells 2018, 7(4), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells7040032
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/7/4/32

Platelet-Rich Plasma Prevents In Vitro Transforming Growth Factor- 1-Induced Fibroblast to Myofibroblast Transition: Involvement of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)-A/VEGFReceptor-1-Mediated Signaling
Cells 2018, 7(9), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells7090142
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/7/9/142

Review:

The Nutrient-Sensing Hexosamine Biosynthetic Pathway as the Hub of Cancer Metabolic Rewiring
Cells 2018, 7(6), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells7060053
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/7/6/53

Elucidating the Metabolic Plasticity of Cancer: Mitochondrial Reprogramming and Hybrid Metabolic States
Cells 2018, 7(3), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells7030021
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/7/3/21

The winners will receive a certificate and the following prizes:

• Best Review Award: A free publication in 2020
• Best Research Article Award: 500 CHF + one free publication in 2020

Please join us in congratulating the winners of the Best Paper Award. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Cells.

Kind regards,
Cells Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Cells, I am pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 Travel Award sponsored by Cells.

The awards have been granted to Mr. Daniel R. Fox, a Ph.D. student at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; and Mr. Zsolt Lakatos, a Ph.D. student at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

With so many high quality applicants, the evaluation process and final decision were challenging. We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their work, collectively covering a diverse and fascinating range of research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I congratulate the winners on their accomplishments.

Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny
Editor-in-Chief

We are pleased to announce that the winners of the 2019 Travel Awards, sponsored by MDPI and Cells, are Claudia Burrello and Macsue Jacques.

Claudia Burrello carried out her university studies in Milan, where she studied a BSc in Biology and an MSc in Biology Applied to Biomedical Research. During her MSc internship in 2012, she joined Dr. Snaar-Jagalska's lab at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Back in Italy, she joined Prof. Rescigno's lab at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. Here she became acquainted with the field of mucosal immunology and the techniques used to study pathologies involving intestinal inflammation. She therefore started her PhD programme in 2014 at the labs of Dr. Facciotti and Prof. Rescigno with the goal of evaluating the role of the gut microbiota in orchestrating mucosal immune responses during intestinal inflammation and cancer. She recently defended her PhD thesis and obtained a one year post doc fellowship for 2019.

Macsue Jacques is a PhD student at the Institute for Health and Sport (iHeS), Victoria University (VU), supervised by A/Prof Nir Eynon (NHMRC Career Development Fellow), and Dr Sarah Voisin (NHMRC Early Career Fellow). She completed her honours degree in 2016 for which she received a 1st class distinction and was subsequently awarded the VU Outstanding Graduate of the year prize. Since commencing her PhD studies in February 2017, she has published eight peer-reviewed manuscripts and three book chapters, which is considered outstanding. During the first year of her PhD she was awarded a prestigious travel grant from The Physiological Society, London (800 Euro) to present her work at the International Physiological Society Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2017, she also presented her work at the Australian Physiological Society (AuPS) conference in Melbourne. In June 2018, she was elected as a council member (student representative) of the AuPS and was interviewed for the AuPS newsletter (http://aups.org.au/Newsletter/201809.pdf). Her PhD project aims to uncover the epigenetic and genetic markers influencing exercise adaptations, and has received significant NHMRC funding via her supervisor’s fellowships.

Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny
Editor-in-Chief, Cells
Neuroscience, UMN Twin Cities

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2018 Young Investigator Award, sponsored by MDPI and Cells, is Dr Pushkar P. Lele, currently an assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering.

Dr. Lele obtained his PhD from the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Delaware, USA, under the guidance of Professor Eric M. Furst. His thesis work was in the field of colloidal self-assembly, during which he developed a passion for understanding the laws of physics that govern the motion of microscopic objects. After earning his doctoral degree, he accepted a postdoctoral position at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA under the supervision of Professor Howard C Berg, a professor in Physics and Molecular Cell Biology. At Harvard, Dr. Lele trained in Microbiology and Biophysics, and made several transformational contributions to the fields of flagellar mechanics and bacterial chemotaxis. He carried out highly creative research by developing assays that enabled mechanical stimulation of individual flagellar motors in single, live bacterial cells. With these novel assays, Dr. Lele discovered that these motors behave as ultra-sensitive molecular sensors that detect chemical as well as mechanical stimuli. The impact of this finding was immense, because it identified the sensors that form the basis of the bacterial ‘sense of touch’. This sense of touch enables bacteria to detect the presence of colonizable surfaces and to trigger the onset of infections.

Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny
Editor-in-Chief, Cells
Neuroscience, UMN Twin Cities

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Cells, I am pleased to announce that the winners of the 2017 Cells Travel Award are:

Francisca Vaz Bravo, a PhD student in the Inter-University Doctoral Programme of the University of Minho and University Nova of Lisbon, Portugal, whose research focuses on studying the impact of Phospholipase D functional ablation in neurodegenerative diseases. She is planning to attend the “Society for Neuroscience 2017”, 11–15 November 2017 in Washington, DC, USA. The award consists of 500 Swiss Francs towards attending this conference.

Zhongying Wang, a PhD student at the University of Southern California, USA, whose research focuses on imaging the GPCR signaling network in pancreatic cancer cells by developing novel affinity peptide probes. He is planning to attend the “5th Annual iHuman Forum”, 5–6 November 2017 in Shanghai, China. The award consists of 500 Swiss Francs towards attending this conference.

On behalf of the editorial team of Cells, I trust the awardees will enjoy stimulating discussions with experts in their fields of study and establish fruitful national and international contacts with colleagues from other institutions.

Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny,
Editor-in-Chief

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Cells, I am pleased to announce that the winner of the 2016 Cells Travel Award is:

Miquéias Lopes-Pacheco, a Postdoc fellow at University Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, whose research focuses on cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein. Particularly, he is interested in investigating the mechanisms underlying the rescue of CFTR mutants implicated in cystic fibrosis.

Miquéias completed his PhD research with 14 publications, being a key author in six of them, as well as presenting his work at many conferences as oral presentations and posters. He is planning to attend the “14th ECFS Basic Science Conference” at the end of March 2017 in Portugal. The award consists of 800 Swiss Francs towards attending this conference.

Dr. Alexander E. Kalyuzhny
Editor-in-Chief