News release - Open access research celebrated

["Charlotte Webber" <Charlotte.Webber@biomedcentral.com>]

*Apologies for cross-posting*

NEWS RELEASE - BUSINESS

14 April 2009
For immediate release

Media Contact
Matt McKay
Head of Public Relations
BioMed Central
Tel:  +44 (0)203 1922 2216
Mob: +44 (0)7825 257 423
Email: matthew.mckay@biomedcentral.com

Open Access Research Celebrated

The winners of BioMed Central's 3rd Annual Research Awards were
announced at an awards ceremony at London's Barbican Centre last
week. The event was attended by shortlisted authors, eminent
researchers from around the world, open access advocates and
science journalists.

The Research Awards, now in their third year, recognize
excellence in research that has been made universally accessible
by open access publication. The Awards celebrate the best medical
and biological research published in any of BioMed Central's open
access journals in the last year.

The Medicine and Biology Prizes, sponsored by Microsoft Research,
were won by the following research articles:

Biology Award

Basil Honegger, University of Zuerich Imp-L2, a putative homolog
of vertebrate IGF-binding protein 7, counteracts insulin
signaling in Drosophila and is essential for starvation
resistance Honegger B, Galic M, Koehler K, Wittwer F, Brogiolo W,
Hafen E, Stocker H Journal of Biology 2008, 7:10 (15 April 2008)

This research describes the genetic identification of the first
functional insulin-like growth factor binding protein ortholog in
invertebrates.

Medicine Award

Weiqi Yan and Guomin Xiao, Hangzhou Normal University Improved
outcomes from the administration of progesterone for patients
with acute severe traumatic brain injury: a randomized controlled
trial Xiao G, Wei J, Yan W, Wang W, Lu Z Critical Care 2008,
12:R61 (30 April 2008)

This study explains how a common component of the contraceptive
pill (progesterone) could improve the neurologic outcome for
patients with severe head injuries.

This year, three new awards were introduced:

Editor of the Year
Chris Arme, Parasites & Vectors

Case Report of the Year

Derek Rajakumar, University of Saskatchewan Mycobacterium
tuberculosis monoarthritis in a child Rajakumar D, Rosenberg AM
Pediatric Rheumatology 2008, 6:15 (18 September 2008)

This case demonstrates the unusual ways that tuberculosis can
present in our patients and highlights the difficulty in
diagnosing non-pulmonary tuberculosis.

Open Access Institute of the Year
University of Nottingham

BioMed Central Publisher Matthew Cockerill said "We are delighted
with the diversity and quality of this year's award nominees and
would like to congratulate the winners, and those shortlisted, on
their exceptional research. We would also like to thank our
sponsors, Microsoft Research and Pfizer, whose support made the
awards possible."

Guests at the event were treated to a lively routine from Brian
Malow, 'the science comedian'. As part of their commitment to
open access, Pfizer were proud to be the sponsor the Research
Awards Dinner.

Photos and full details of the awards can be found at the BioMed
Central Annual Research Awards website:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/researchawards/

Notes to Editors:

1. BioMed Central (www.biomedcentral.com) is an STM (Science,
    Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the
    open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research
    articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and
    freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow
    redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer
    Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM
    sector.

2.The runner-up for the Biology Prize went to Henrik Glenner and
Jens Hoeg, both from the University of Copenhagen, for their
research article in BMC Biology: Induced metamorphosis in
crustacean y-larvae: Towards a solution to a 100-year-old riddle
Glenner H, Hoeg JT, Grygier MJ, Fujita Y BMC Biology 2008, 6:21
(20 May 2008)

3.The runner-up for the Medicine Prize was awarded to Joachim
Silber et al of the University of California for their research
article published in BMC Medicine: miR-124 and miR-137 inhibit
proliferation of glioblastoma multiforme cells and induce
differentiation of brain tumor stem cells Silber J, Lim DA,
Petritsch C, Persson AI, Maunakea AK, Yu M, Vandenberg SR,
Ginzinger DG, James CD, Costello JF, Bergers G, Weiss WA,
Alvarez-Buylla A, Hodgson JG. BMC Medicine 2008, 6:14 (24 June
2008)

***