Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Kousuke Hanada, we wish to acknowledge our reviewers who so generously have given their time to review the papers submitted to Life. As such, we wish to present an award to congratulate the reviewers who have demonstrated their dedication, professionalism, and timeliness in reviewing manuscripts for Life.

What are the pre-requisites to be eligible for this awards?

• All of the reviewers for Life in 2021 will be automatically included.

Select criteria:

• Number of review reports (only first review reports are considered);
• Review quality based on the rating given in SuSy;
• Review speed.

What will the winners receive?

There will be two winners this year, and each will receive the following:

• 500 Swiss francs;
• A 1000 CHF voucher to publish a paper in 2022;
• A certificate.

When will the winners be announced?

• The winners will be announced by the end of February 2022 on the journal website.

How can I make myself eligible?

• If you have not yet reviewed papers for Life, 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,
Life Editorial Office 

Dear Colleagues,

To acknowledge authors’ continued support and celebrate the 10th anniversary of our journal, we are pleased to announce the establishment of a Best Paper Award for research and review articles published between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020. After a thorough evaluation by the journal award committee (consisting of members of the Life Editorial Board), one review paper and one research paper will each receive an award.

Eligibility conditions:

– Papers published in Life from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 will be considered;
– Both regular and Special Issue submissions will be considered;
– Only original research articles and reviews will be considered.

Selection criteria:

– Originality and significance;
– Citations and download rates in 2020, determined using Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics).

Winners (corresponding author) will receive certifications and 400 CHF. The Winners will be announced at the end of 2021.

Dear Colleagues, 

We are pleased to announce that Life is now inviting nominations for the Life 2021 Young Investigator Awards. This prize will be given to two young investigators in recognition of their excellence in the field of life science. All nominations will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Koichiro Tamura. 

The Prize: 

− CHF 1000 (Swiss Francs);
− Option to publish one paper free of charge in Life after peer review before 31 December 2022. 

Eligibility and Requirements: 

− PhD must be below 40 years of age or have received their PhD no more than 10 years prior to 31 December 2021;
− Must have produced ground-breaking research and made a significant contribution to the advancement of life science;
− Candidates must be nominated by senior scientists, research directors, or department heads. 

List of Documents for Nomination:

– Detailed Curriculum Vitae, including an updated publication list and a list of the researcher’s own research grants;
– Cover letter indicating the award for which the candidate is to be considered;
− Birth certificate or other proof of age;
− Scanned copy of doctorate certificate;
− Signed nomination letters from two established senior scientists. 

Schedule:

Open for nominations: 20 March 2021
Nomination deadline: 31 October 2021
Winners announcement: 31 December 2021

How to Submit Nominations?

The nominations must be submitted online.

Contact
Ms. Cassie Liu
Marketing Specialist
Email: [email protected]

Dear Colleagues,

The journal Life (MDPI, Switzerland, ISSN 2075-1729, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/life) is inviting applications for the Life 2021 PhD Thesis Award. This prize will be awarded to a PhD student who is about to graduate or participate in the graduation thesis. The applications will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee led by the Section Editors-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Bruce J. Nicholson and Prof. Dr. Pasquale Stano.

Eligibility Requirements:

a. The candidate must be a PhD student who is going to graduate or participate in graduation thesis defenses.

b. The PhD thesis must be an original work in the broad area of life sciences and be defended between 1 January 2021 and 29 September 2021.

c. Applicants are required to submit the following documents:
– An executive summary (approximately 3000 words) of the PhD thesis in English;
– The candidate’s CV, including a list of publications related to the thesis, public presentations (specify whether they are posters or platform talks), and awards;
– An electronic copy of the PhD thesis;
– A scanned copy of the PhD diploma.

d. Three cover letters from: (1) the PhD student’s supervisor, (2) a member of the school at the same institution as the PhD student, and (3) an academic expert outside the PhD student’s institution. All those letters should be sent by the referrer to the journal office ([email protected]) and must not be seen by the applicant.

All documents and reference letters should be sent to the journal office ([email protected]) by 30 September 2021. For documents, please use the subject of email as: [life]- 2021 PhD Thesis Award-Name of Applicant; for reference letters, please use the subject of email as: [life]-2021 PhD Thesis Award-Name of Applicant-Reference Letter.

Selection Criteria:

– Relevance of the PhD thesis to contributing to science and technology;
– Originality, creativity, novelty, and ingenuity;
– Quality of related publications and peer recognition;
– The degree to which the thesis addresses long-standing open questions or decisive and timely discoveries that mark qualitative leaps;
– Strength of the recommendation letters, including the rank of the student against others that they have known at this time in their career.

Prize:

– Bonus (800 CHF).

Please send your applicatio materials to the journal office ([email protected]) with the corresponding subjects, by 30 September 2021. The winner will be announced on the journal’s website by the end of October 2021.

Dear Colleague,

We are pleased to announce that the winners of the Life 2020 Young Investigator Awards are Prof. Dr. Luning Liu and Dr. David E. Olson.

 Prof. Dr. Luning Liu is Chair of Microbial Bioenergetics and Bioengineering and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Institute of Integrative 
Biology, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. His lab aims to explore the biosynthesis and function of photosynthetic membranes, macromolecular assemblies and protein organelles using interdisciplinary approaches. His long-term goals are to understand the molecular principles underlying the formation and regulation of bioenergetic systems and to harness the knowledge to underpin the engineering of functional biomachineries and the development of a diverse range of biotechnological applications. As PI and co-PI, Dr. Liu has secured GBP 2.8M and GBP 4.5M foundations.

Dr. David E. Olson is Assistant Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, as well as at the Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis. He received his PhD degree from Stanford University. His research focuses on compound-induced neural plasticity and the development of neurotherapeutics. Since starting his career at UC Davis, he has published several highly influential papers (20 in total). Additionally, he has been awarded 13 grants as the sole PI. He was named a Hellman Fellow and was the recipient of the Jordi Folch-Pi Award from the American Society for Neurochemistry.

As awardees, Prof. Dr. Liu and Dr. Olson will receive an honorarium of 1000 CHF and the opportunity to publish one paper free of charge before 31 December 2021 in Life after peer review.

We want to thank all of the excellent young scientists who applied for this award— their brilliant CVs made the choice very difficult. We would also like to thank all of the Award Committee Members for their thorough evaluation of the applications.

Life 2020 Young Investigator Awards Evaluation Committe

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Life, I am pleased to announce the winner of the Life Travel Award 2019:

Pol Arranz-Gibert, a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University, whose research focuses on the expansion of the genetic code to facilitate the incorporation of nonstandard amino acids into proteins. He is planning to present his work “Ribosome Evolution for the Incorporation of Non-Standard Monomers”. The award consists of 800 Swiss Francs to attend an academic conference of his choice in 2019.

We would like to thank all the applicants for submitting their fascinating and diverse range of research topics. And the competition for the Life Travel Award 2020 will be opened at the end of 2019. Please visit Life homepage for more information closer to this date.

Dr. Ulrich Muller
Editor-in-Chief

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Life, I am pleased to announce the winner of the Life Travel Award 2018:

Ryo Mizuuchi, PhD student at Osaka University, whose research focuses on constructing a comprehensive scenario of possible evolution of primitive replication systems. He is planning to present his work “Sustainable Cooperation and Coevolution of Encapsulated Gene-Encoding RNA Replicators” at the Evolution 2018 Montpellier. The award consists of 800 Swiss Francs to attend this conference.

Prof. Dr. Antonio Lazcano
Editor-in-Chief

As Editor-in-Chief of Life, I am pleased to announce the winner of the Life Travel Award 2017:
Claudia Bonfio, PhD student at the Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, whose research focuses on the origin of iron–sulfur clusters and their catalytic activity on the early Earth. She is planning to present her work “UV-light driven prebiotic synthesis of iron–sulfur clusters” at the XVIIIth International Conference on the Origin of Life. The award consists of 800 Swiss Francs to attend this conference.

Prof. Dr. David Deamer
Editor-in-Chief