Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Paper Award Research Articles

Publisher Correction: Sanofi-Cell Research outstanding paper award of 2022

Publisher Correction: Sanofi-Cell Research outstanding paper award of 2022

Sanofi-Cell Research outstanding paper award of 2012

In this November issue of Cell Research, we are proud to announce the winners of the 4th Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Paper Award, which were selected from papers published in the 2012 print issues of Cell Research. The 2012 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Review Article Award goes to Dr Dean Tang, for his review paper entitled “Understanding cancer stem cell heterogeneity and plasticity”1. The winners of the 2012 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Research Article Award are Drs Chen-Yu Zhang, Ke Zen and Junfeng Zhang, for their paper entitled “Exogenous plant MIR168a specifically targets mammalian LDLRAP1: evidence of cross-kingdom regulation by microRNA”2; and Drs Yigong Shi and Li Yu, for their paper entitled “Crystal structure and biochemical analyses reveal Beclin 1 as a novel membrane binding protein”3. The award consists of a prize of € 3000 for the Outstanding Review Article Award and € 5000 for the Outstanding Research Article Award sponsored by Sanofi. The three award-winning papers are selected based on the voting by members of the Sanofi-Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences Steering Committee. The award-winning review by Dr Tang was published in the March issue of 2012. The review provides an expert analysis on our current understanding of cancer stem cells, with a focus on discussing their heterogeneity and plasticity. In the first award-winning research article, published in the January 2012 issue, Dr Chen-Yu Zhang and his colleagues report the discovery that a plant microRNA that is abundantly found in rice, could be taken up by animals through food intake, and then acts to regulate the expression of a mammalian gene that is involved in host metabolism, revealing a remarkable example of cross-kingdom regulation by small RNAs. In the second award-winning research article, published in the March 2012 issue, Drs Shi and Yu report the discovery of a novel function of Beclin 1, which is known to play an essential role in autophagy and to be a haplo-insufficient tumor suppressor. Through an elegant combination of structural and biochemical studies, they show that Beclin 1 possesses a novel membrane binding activity, thus providing important molecular insight into how this protein functions. Please join us to congratulate the winners on their winning of the 2012 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Paper Award. We hope that this yearly award program will continue to encourage our fellow scientists to submit their best work to Cell Research.

Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Paper Award of 2011

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 3rd Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Paper Award, which were selected from papers published in the 2011 print issues of Cell Research. The 2011 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Review Article Award goes to Dr Tony Kouzarides, for his review paper entitled “Regulation of chromatin by histone modifications”1. The winners of the 2011 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Research Article Award are Drs Bing Ren and James A Thomson, for their paper entitled “Dynamic chromatin states in human ES cells reveal potential regulatory sequences and genes involved in pluripotency”2; and Dr Linzhao Cheng, for his paper entitled “Efficient human iPS cell derivation by a non-integrating plasmid from blood cells with unique epigenetic and gene expression signatures”3. The award consists of a prize of 3 000 for the Outstanding Review Article Award and 5 000 for the Outstanding Research Article Award sponsored by Sanofi. The three award-winning papers are selected based on the voting by members of the Sanofi-Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences Steering Committee.

Sanofi-Cell Research outstanding paper award of 2010

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2nd annual Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Paper Award, for papers published in the print issues of Cell Research in 2010. Dr Wen-Chao Song receives the 2010 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Review Article Award, for his review paper entitled “Complement and its role in innate and adaptive immune responses” 1. The winners for the 2010 Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Research Article Award are Drs Gang Pei and Jian Zhao, for their paper entitled “A GPCR/secretase complex regulates β- and γ-secretase specificity for Aβ production and contributes to AD pathogenesis” 2; and Drs Charlie Degui Chen and Naihe Jing, for their paper entitled “Dual-specificity histone demethylase KIAA1718 (KDM7A) regulates neural differentiation through FGF4” 3. The award consists of a prize of € 3 000 for the Outstanding Review Article Award and € 5 000 for the Outstanding Research Article Award provided by Sanofi. The winner must be the corresponding author(s) of the paper. The three award-winning papers (one review and two research articles) are selected by the Sanofi-Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences Steering Committee based on their scientific excellence. The complement system is a major part of the innate immune system and plays an important role in the clearance of pathogens and thus the fight against infection. Song's review article 1 summarizes the roles of the complement system both in the innate detection and elimination of pathogenic infections and in the modulation of adaptive immune responses. This review provides an expert synthesis of the up-to-date knowledge of the functions of the complement system. Amyloid-β (Aβ) is a peptide derived from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) through cleavages by the β-site APP-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) and γ-secretase complex, and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The paper by Pei and Zhao 2 reports that δ-opioid receptor (DOR) promotes the processing of APP by BACE1 and γ-secretase, through complex formation between DOR and the secretases. They further show that knockdown or antagonization of DOR reduces secretase activities and ameliorates Aβ pathology and Aβ-dependent behavioral deficits, but does not affect the processing of other secretase substrates such as Notch, N-cadherin or APLP in AD model mice. These findings suggest that targeting the DOR/secretases interface may represent a new therapeutic strategy against AD with potentially fewer side effects. This paper was also highlighted by Faculty of 1000 4 and Nature China 5. Histone methylation is dynamically regulated by histone methyltransferases and histone demethylases. The paper by Chen and Jing 3 reports the identification of a novel histone demethylase with a unique dual-specificity for dimethylations at K9 and K27 of histone H3 (H3K9me2 and H3K27me2). Using embryonic stem (ES) cells as a model system, they show that the activity of this demethylase (named as KDM7A) is required for the demethylation of H3K9me2 and H3K27me2 at the promoter region of the FGF4 gene, and plays an important role in neural differentiation of ES cells. This study provides novel insights into both the biochemical actions and functional roles of histone demethylases. We would like to extend our warm congratulations to the winners, and hope that highlighting these papers by the Sanofi-Cell Research Outstanding Paper Award will encourage others to submit their best papers to Cell Research in the future.