Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Toxins is granting the 2024 Travel Award to one junior scientist. The applications will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee consisting of senior scholars from the Toxins Editorial Board.

This award provides financial support for the winner to attend an international conference in the field of toxinology and all kinds of toxins (biotoxins) from animals, microbes, and plants to be held in 2024, in order to hold a presentation, present a poster, or both.

Candidate Requirements:
– Postdoctoral fellows or PhD students.
– Plans to attend an international conference in 2024 (oral presentation or poster).

Required Application Documents:
– Information of the conference the applicant is planning to attend and the abstract that will be submitted.
– Curriculum Vitae and list of publications.
– Justification letter describing the focus of the research (max. 800 words).
– Letter of recommendation from the supervisor, research director, or department head, which also confirms the applicant’s status as a postdoctoral fellow/PhD student.

The winner will be awarded CHF 500 and a certificate.

Please submit your applications for the Toxins 2024 Travel Award online by 31 December 2023. Prizes will be awarded at the end of March 2024 and announced on the Toxins website.

Kind regards,
Toxins Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Jay Fox, we wish to acknowledge our reviewers who so generously offer their time to review the papers submitted to Toxins by presenting an award to the reviewers who have demonstrated their dedication, professionalism, and timeliness in reviewing manuscripts for Toxins.

What are the pre-requisites to be eligible for this award?
All of the reviewers for Toxins 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 two winners this year, and each will receive the following:
– CHF 500;
– An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Toxins in 2024 after peer review;
– A certificate.

When will the winners be announced?
The winners will be announced on the journal website on 15 April 2024.

How can I make myself eligible?
If you have not yet reviewed papers for Toxins, 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,
Toxins Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Toxins is now inviting nominations for the Toxins 2023 Young Investigator Award. This prize will be given to one young investigator in recognition of their excellence in the field of toxinology and all kinds of toxins (biotoxins) from animals, microbes and plants. All nominations will be assessed by an Award Evaluation Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Jay Fox.

The Prize:
– CHF 2000;
– The option to publish one paper free of charge in Toxins 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 the research field: toxinology and all kinds of toxins (biotoxins) from animals, microbes and plants;
– 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.

List of Documents for Nomination:
Open for nomination: 17 March 2023
Nomination deadline: 30 November 2023
Winner announcement: 29 February 2024

List of Documents for Nomination:
The nominations must be submitted online.

Contact:
Ms. Celia Li
Marketing Specialist
Email: [email protected]

Kind regards,
Toxins Editorial Office

Note on Winner Announcement Date

Thank you for your continuous support. We regret to inform you that the deadline for announcing the winner of the 2022 Best Paper Award has been postponed to 30 June 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,

We are pleased to announce the “Toxins 2022 Best Paper Award” for research and review articles published in Toxins from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. Two research articles and one review 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. Jay Fox.

Eligibility for the Award:
– Papers published in Toxins from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 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:
– One review: CHF 500 and a chance to publish a free paper in Toxins before the end of April 2024 after peer review;
– Two research articles: CHF 500 and a chance to publish a free paper in Toxins before the end of April 2024 after peer review.

Each winner will also receive a certificate.

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

Kind regards,
Toxins Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Toxins, I am pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Travel Award. The award has been granted to: Dr. Karoline Sanches, a PhD student at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, who will attend the 8th Venoms to Drugs conference, Moreton Island, Australia; and Dr. Iman Mehdizadeh Gohari, a postdoctoral fellow at University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA, who will attend the International Conferences on the Molecular Biology and Pathogenesis of the Clostridia, Banff, Canada.

As the awardees, they will each receive an honorarium of CHF 500 and an electronic certificate.

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

Prof. Dr. Jay Fox
Editor-in-Chief, Toxins

Dear Colleagues,

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

Dr. Margarita Fernández-Tejedor
IRTA, Barcelona, Spain
Research Interests: phytoplankton; water quality; oceanography; aquaculture; marine toxins; marine resources

Dr. Christian Müller
Animal Physiology and Biochemistry, Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
Research Interests: leech; hirudin; mechanisms of osmoregulation; animal toxins; venoms

The Prize for Each Winner:
– CHF 500;
– An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge in Toxins before the end of 2023 after peer review;
– A certificate.

Kind regards,
Toxins Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Toxins 2022 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Paz Otero Fuertes.

Dr. Paz Otero Fuertes is a senior researcher of the Analytical and Food Chemistry Department at the University of Vigo, Galicia, Spain. Dr. Paz Otero Fuertes’s research interests are in food safety, toxicology, pharmacology, marine bioactive compounds, microalgae, purification, phycotoxins, cyanotoxins, and mycotoxins. Dr. Otero has published 56 papers (20 as a first or corresponding/last author), 10 book chapters (4 as the first author), and 10 conference proceedings; her Hirsch index is 27. In October 2011 she took on the responsibility of the daily coordination of two European projects from the Atlantic Area Program focused on discovering new marine compounds in the Atlantic coast (PHARMATLANTIC 2009-1/117 and ATLANTOX 2008-1/003 in the USC). She was awarded by the Irish Research Council (IRC) with the project DETTOX: Production, extraction, and detection systems for new marine phycotoxins in Europe (Ref. GOIPD/2015/681) as the principal investigator (PI), focused on marine toxin detection. She also improved the specialization of the R&D projects, providing her with the opportunity to develop communication skills in the context of EU projects and establish a network with researchers from international institutions. Today, she and her team at the University of Vigo have been awarded the EU project WHEATBIOME HORIZON-CL6-2022-FARM2FORK-01 (4 years). As a team member, she aims to determine which biotic/abiotic factors affect wheat microbiome composition, including the presence of microorganisms that produce mycotoxins and how the modification of wheat microbiomes can translate into improved crop yield as well as safer wheat. This is an outstanding achievement in today’s competitive environment. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Paz Otero Fuertes for her outstanding achievements.

As the awardee, Dr. Paz Otero Fuertes will receive an honorarium of CHF 2000, an offer to publish one paper free of charge in Toxins after peer review before the end of December 2023, and an electronic certificate.

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

Prof. Dr. Jay Fox
Editor-in-Chief, Toxins

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Toxins 2021 Best Paper Award. All papers published from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 in Toxins were considered. After a thorough evaluation of the originality and significance of the papers, as well as the number of citations and downloads, two winners were selected.

Review:
Aflatoxin Biosynthesis and Genetic Regulation: A Review
By Isaura Caceres, Anthony Al Khoury, Rhoda El Khoury, Sophie Lorber, Isabelle P. Oswald, André El Khoury, Ali Atoui, Olivier Puel and Jean-Denis Bailly
Toxins 2020, 12(3), 150; doi:10.3390/toxins12030150

Article:
Diet Breadth Mediates the Prey Specificity of Venom Potency in Snakes
By Keith Lyons, Michel M. Dugon and Kevin Healy
Toxins 2020, 12(2), 74; doi:10.3390/toxins12020074

Each winner (corresponding author) will receive CHF 500 and the opportunity to publish a paper in Toxins after peer review by March 2023.

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

Kind regards,
Toxins Editorial Office

Dear Colleagues,

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

Dr. Marc Maresca
Affiliation: Institut des Sciences Moléculaires de Marseille, Marseille, France
Research Interest: toxins; mycotoxins; antimicrobial; antimicrobial peptides; intestine; intestinal physiology; pathogenic microorganisms

Dr. Ingars Reinholds
Affiliation: Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment “BIOR”, Latvia University of Latvia, Faculty of Inorganic Chemistry and Work Safety, Riga, Latvia
Research Interest: mechanical properties; work safety; nanomaterial; risk assessment.

Each of them will receive the following:
– CHF 500;
– An opportunity to publish a paper free of charge by March 2023;
– A certificate.

Kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Jay Fox
Editor-in-Chief, Toxins

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Toxins 2021 Outstanding Toxicologist Award for Women is Dr. Christina Schroeder.

Dr. Christina Schroeder research focuses on biodiscovery and peptide engineering of venom-derived toxins to investigate ion channels involved in pain and cancer. She completed her Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Queensland, Australia, focusing on the structure-activity relationships of omega-conotoxins targeting calcium channels and has carried out postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute, USA, the University of Queensland, and the University of New South Wales, Australia. In 2014, she was awarded research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia, and in 2017, she was awarded a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council allowing her to pursue independent research at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland. She has published more than 80 articles on the discovery, structure and function of animal toxins targeting ion channels and submitted 28 NMR structures of toxins to the PDB. Her most noteworthy work relates to the understanding of the importance of toxin–membrane binding for sodium channel inhibition and the development of bivalent toxins with dual pharmacology targeting sodium channels involved in pain. In 2020, she joined the Chemical Biology Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA as a Stadtman Investigator and she holds an adjunct Associate Professor position at the University of Queensland,
Australia.

As the awardee, Dr. Christina Schroeder will receive an honorarium of CHF 2000, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 31th December 2022 in Toxins after peer-review, and an engraved plaque.

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. Jay W. Fox
Editor-in-Chief, Toxins

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Toxins, I am pleased to announce that the following three applicants have been selected as the winners of the Toxins 2021 Travel Award.

Cecilie Knudsen

a Ph.D. student in Technical University of Denmark, Denmark

Laura Biessy

a Ph.D. student in Cawthron Institute, New Zealand

Dr. Marcelo Mendes Rabelo

a postdoctoral researcher in University of Florida, USA

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 fascinating range of research topics. On behalf of the assessment committee, I congratulate the winners on their accomplishments.

Prof. Dr. Jay W. Fox

Editor-in-Chief, Toxins

On behalf of the Toxins 2021 Travel Awards Evaluation

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2020 Toxins Young Investigator Award is Dr. Andreas Hougaard Laustsen.

Dr. Andreas Hougaard Laustsen is the Principle Investigator of the Tropical Pharmacology Lab and is specialized in antibody discovery, toxinology, and snakebite antivenom. He finished his PhD studies on recombinant antivenom at the University of Copenhagen in 2016 and continued as a Postdoc at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where, in 2018, he became an Associate Professor and established his own research group. Andreas’ research involves the discovery and application of antibodies against toxic and infectious agents, such as animal toxins and pathogenic bacteria. He is known for having developed the world’s first fully human recombinant monoclonal antibodies against animal toxins and for being an expert on black mamba venom. He has published more than 50 scientific articles on animal toxins and next-generation antivenoms, and his scientific achievements have been recognized with Andreas being a Fellow of the Young Academy of Denmark, the Young Academy of Europe, and the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences. In addition to his academic career, Andreas is a co-founder of the life science companies: Biosyntia, VenomAb, Antag Therapeutics, Chromologics, VenomAid Diagnostics, and Bactolife, which employ 50+ employees and have attracted significant venture capital. Andreas’ most notable work relates to his discovery and development of an experimental recombinant antivenom based on a cocktail of human monoclonal antibodies against black mamba venom, as well as his later work on developing broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against snake toxins.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Andreas Hougaard Laustsen on his award, and for his outstanding achievements. As the awardee, Dr. Andreas Hougaard Laustsen will receive an honorarium of CHF 2000 and an engraved trophy.

Toxins Editorial Office

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Toxins 2020 Outstanding Reviewer Award. The Toxins Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy dedicated by reviewers in checking the manuscripts submitted to Toxins. It is due to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick turnaround is maintained.

The following referees have been selected by the Editor-in-Chief of Toxins, Prof. Dr. Jay W. Fox. Each of them will receive a customized gift and a certificate to recognize their outstanding work:

Dr. Kirill S. Antonets
Affiliation: Laboratory for Proteomics of Supra-Organismal Systems, All-Russia Research Institute for Agricultural Microbiology (ARRIAM), Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Faculty of Biology, St. Petersburg State University (SPbSU), Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Research Interest: bioinformatics; structural biology; bacterial genomics; transcriptomics; molecular biology of host-pathogen interactions.

Dr. Alberto Rico-Yuste
Affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Research Interest: molecular imprinted polymers; optical chemosensors; food analysis; mycotoxins; spectroscopy; fluorescence.

Kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Jay W. Fox
Editor-in-Chief, Toxins

Dear colleagues,

The editorial team would like to congratulate the winners of the Toxins 2020 Best Paper Award, who were chosen by a selection committee chaired by the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Jay W. Fox. Following a review process by the Evaluation Committee, two winners were selected. The winners are as follows:

Article: (500 CHF + a certificate)
Temperature Effects Explain Continental Scale Distribution of Cyanobacterial Toxins
Evanthia Mantzouki et al.
Toxins 2018, 10(4), 156; doi:10.3390/toxins10040156
Available Online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/10/4/156

Review: (500 CHF + a certificate)

Aflatoxin B1 and M1: Biological Properties and Their Involvement in Cancer Development
Silvia Marchese et al.
Toxins 2018, 10(6), 214; doi:10.3390/toxins10060214
Available Online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/10/6/214

Please join us in congratulating the winners of Toxins 2020 Best Paper Award. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our authors for your continued support of Toxins.

Kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Jay W. Fox
Toxins Editor-in-Chief

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Toxins, I am pleased to announce the winner of the 2020 Toxins Travel Award:

This award has been granted to Prof. Steve Peigneur, a Postdoctoral Researcher in the lab of Toxicology & Pharmacology at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium. His research in the field of drug discovery and development mainly focusses on the characterisation of novel ligands for ion channels and receptors, starting from natural sources such as venomous animals and poisonous plants. He plans to present his work in International Society of Toxinology Asia-Pacific Conference 2020, Cairns, Australia.

The award comprises 1000 Swiss Francs and a certificate for the winner.

Toxins is proud to support young researchers working in the field of toxinology, and we wish Dr. Peigneur further success in his career. We are grateful to all who submitted applications—thank you for letting us get to know you and your work.

Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Jay Fox

The Toxins Editorial Board and Editorial Team would like to gratefully acknowledge the time and energy given by reviewers in checking manuscripts submitted to the journal. It is thanks to their efforts that the high quality of the journal and quick submission to publication process are maintained.

Please join us in congratulating the two referees below, who will receive the “Toxins 2019 Outstanding Reviewer Award” in recognition of the quantity, timeliness, and quality of their reviews in 2019. Each of them will receive 500 CHF and a certificate for their outstanding review work.

Prof. Matthias Koch
Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM), Germany

Prof. Sumit Ghosh
Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, USA

Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651; CODEN: TOXIB7) is an international peer-reviewed open access journal which provides an advanced forum for studies related to toxinology and all kinds of toxins (biotoxins) from animals, microbes and plants. According to Journal Citation Report (Clarivate Analytics), the 2018 impact factor for Toxins is 3.895; it ranks 14/93 (Q1) in ‘Toxicology’ and 19/135 (Q1) in ’Food Science & Technology’”. The CiteScore (Scopus) of Toxins in 2018 is 3.62.

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2019 Toxins Young Investigator Award is Prof. Nicholas R Casewell.

Professor Casewell’s research focuses on the evolutionary and biomedical aspects of animal toxins. Following the completion of his PhD studies at Bangor University, UK, where he focused on characterising the composition of saw-scaled viper venoms, Nick worked in research and development at an antivenom manufacturing company. Thereafter, he won a research fellowship to investigate the evolution of fish venoms before moving to Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), UK, in 2014 to take up a faculty position. In 2019, Nick was appointed as Professor of Neglected Tropical Diseases by LSTM, and he also currently holds the position of Wellcome Trust Research Fellow. He has published over 70 papers on animal toxins, and his most notable work relates to understanding the processes that generate toxin variation and how this information can be applied to better inform new treatment strategies for the world’s snakebite victims.

Please join us in congratulating Prof. Nicholas R Casewell on his award, and for his outstanding achievements. As the awardee, Prof. Nicholas R Casewell will receive an honorarium of 2000 CHF and an engraved trophy.

Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Jay Fox
Department of Microbiology,
University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, USA

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Toxins, I am pleased to announce the winners of the Toxins Travel Award for 2019:

Travel Awards was granted to Dr. Elisabeth Varga, a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Doris Marko’s lab at University of Vienna, Austria, and to Dr. Miklós Poór, a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Tamás Kőszegi’s lab at University of Pécs, Hungary.

Dr. Elisabeth Varga studies the production of fish killing prymnesin toxins produced by the haptophyte Prymnesium parvum, as well as karmitoxin produced by the dinoflagellate Karlodinium armiger. Her tasks include the preparative purification and identification of prymnesins by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric methods and she reveals the chemical diversity of these molecules.

Dr. Miklós Poór has a deep interest in toxicology and pharmacokinetics. His main research fields are mycotoxins, albumin-ligand interactions, and pharmacokinetic aspects of food-drug interactions.

Editor-in-Chief,
Jay Fox

Dear Colleagues,

Our journal celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2018. To acknowledge the authors’ support and celebrate this anniversary, we announced the “Toxins’ 10th Anniversary Top Cited Researcher Award”. As Editor-in-Chief of Toxins, I am pleased to announce the winners.

Section Animal Venoms: Bryan Grieg Fry from University of Queensland

Section Bacterial Toxins: Primitivo Caballero from Universidad Pública de Navarra

Section Marine and Freshwater Toxins: Luis Botana from University of Santiago of Compostela

Section Mycotoxins: Heidi Schwartz-Zimmermann from Universität für Bodenkultur Wien

Section Plant Toxins: Ohad Mazor from Israel Institute for Biological Research

Section Uremic Toxins: Ziad A. Massy from University Paris Saclay

Editor-in-Chief,
Jay Fox

Dear Colleagues,

This year we enjoyed a large number of very highly meritorious applications for our annual Toxins Travel Award. It was not an easy task to select the top two candidates. Nevertheless, with the assistance of our Section Editors, I believe we have identified two outstanding candidates. Thus, as Editor-in-Chief of Toxins, I am pleased to announce the winners of the Toxins Travel Award for 2018:

Travel Award was granted to Dr. Kwok Ho Lam, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Rongsheng Jin’s lab at University of California, USA, and to Dr. Anneleen Pletinck, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Griet Glorieux’s lab at Campus Ghent University Hospital, Belgium.

Dr. Kwok Ho Lam studies the structure and function relationship of botulinum neurotoxins, with a particular emphasis on the acidinduced channel formation of Botulinum neurotoxin, the inhibition mechanism of nanobodies targeting Botulinum neurotoxin.

Dr. Anneleen Pletinck’s work focuses on the link between uremic toxins and endothelial glycocalyx damage in chronic kidney disease.

We are proud to support these young scientists working in the field of toxinology and wish them further success in their careers.

Editor-in-Chief,
Jay Fox

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the winners of the Toxins Travel Award for 2017. We had planned to fund two awards, but the quality of the applications was stellar, and we couldn’t narrow down the winners to just two!

Travel Award was granted to: Dr. Marco Pirazzini, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Cesare Montecucco’s lab, University of Padova, Italy; Dr. Natalie Saez, a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Glenn King’s lab, University of Queensland, Australia; and Ms. Rachel A. Miller, Ph.D. student in Dr. Martin Wiedmann’s lab, Cornell University, USA.

Dr. Marco Pirazzini studies the molecular mechanism of action of botulinal neurotoxins expressed by Clostridium botulinum.

Dr. Natalie Saez’s work focuses on the interactions of toxins expressed by arachnids and insects with acid-sensing channels and voltage-gated sodium channels.

Ms. Rachel A. Miller’s research focuses on the distribution, regulation, and contributions to pathogenicity, of toxins produced by Bacillus cereus and nontyphoidal Salmonella.

Editor-in-Chief,
Vernon L. Tesh, Ph.D.

Dear Colleagues,

As Editor-in-Chief of Toxins, I am pleased to announce the winners of the Toxins Travel Award for 2016:

Travel Award was granted to Dr. Kartik Sunagar, Marie Curie Fellow in Dr. Yehu Moran’s lab at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and to Dr. Philipp Wiemann, a post-doctoral researcher in Dr. Nancy Keller’s lab at University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Dr. Kartik Sunagar studies animal venoms to understand various aspects in evolutionary biology and ecology, with a particular emphasis on molecular evolution, predator-prey interactions, mechanisms of toxic action and the role of environmental and ecological factors in driving the evolution of venom – the nature’s most complex biochemical cocktail.

Dr. Philipp Wiemann has been working with Aspergillus species, including the opportunistic human pathogen A. fumigatus and the aflatoxin producing plant pathogen A. flavus. His research mainly focuses on a specific natural product of A. fumigatus, called hexadehydroastechrome, that when over-produced contributes to virulence in mice.

Editor-in-Chief,
Vernon L. Tesh