Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the IJMS 2022 Young Investigator Award.

Ho-Chang Kuo graduated from the National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan, with an M.D. degree in 1999 and a PhD degree from the Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science at Chang Gung University, Taiwan, in 2011. Now, he is the Director of the “Kawasaki Disease Center” in Taiwan. His research and clinical expert field are in Kawasaki disease and allergic diseases.

John Charles Rotondo is currently a Principal Investigator at the Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy. His research is focused on evaluating the role of non-coding RNA molecules in modulating epithelial cell proliferation, differentiation and adhesion processes and understanding the dysregulated immunological, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms relying on the onset and progression of cancers of different histotypes, including Merkel cell, vulvar and cervical carcinomas. He studied the role of small DNA tumor viruses including human polyoma- and papillomaviruses in human cancers and other diseases.

Luca Falzone holds the research associate position at the National Cancer Institute IRCCS Fondazione G. Pascale of Naples (Italy) and is the head of the “Cancer Epigenetics and Biomarker Discovery” research group at the Experimental Oncology Laboratory, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania (Italy). His research activities are focused on the study of biological processes involved in the development of cancer including the role of epigenetic alterations as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

Manuel Gomez-Florit is an Assistant Researcher and Junior Principal Investigator at the Health Research Institute of the Balearic Islands. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of the Balearic Islands. His research focuses on the use of platelet-derived extracellular vesicles and biomolecules for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications, with an emphasis on tendon regeneration.

Suowen Xu is a full professor at the University of Science and Technology of China. His research interest centers on the molecular mechanism of endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis.

Each awardee will receive an honorarium of CHF 1000 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.

IJMS Young Investigator Evaluation Committee