The 2008 Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, presented by Eppendorf AG in partnership with the scientific journal Nature, is open to scientists no older than 35 years of age. Applications must be submitted online at eppendorf.com/award by 30 June and need to include a short CV, a list of publications, a maximum of three papers to be evaluated and a 300-word essay summarising the papers.

Jörn Peplow, of Eppendorf Corporate Communications, said: “This prestigious prize was established in 1995 to celebrate Eppendorf’s 50th anniversary, symbolising the close links between the company and the field of biomedicine. The criteria on which entries are evaluated include creativity, the ability to work independently, the significance of research results for the field of medicine and the successful practical application of the research approach.”

The 2008 prize-winner will be selected by a completely independent committee chaired by Professor Kai Simons, Managing Director of the Max Plank Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany. Eppendorf will provide full support for the winner to attend the award presentation on 20 November 2008 at the Medica Congress in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The 2007 award was won by Dr Mónica Bettencourt-Dias, a group leader at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência in Oerias, Portugal. Her pioneering research on centrosome biogenesis opens up new avenues for understanding cell cycle control and for cancer therapy.