WASHINGTON—The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Editorial Board has selected six papers published by PNAS in 2011 to receive the Cozzarelli Prize, an award that recognizes outstanding contributions to the scientific disciplines represented by the National Academy of Sciences. Papers selected were chosen from more than 3,500 research articles that appeared in the journal last year and represent the six broadly defined classes under which the National Academy of Sciences is organized.

The annual award acknowledges papers that reflect scientific excellence and originality. The award was established in 2005 and named in 2007 to honor late PNAS Editor-in-Chief Nicholas R. Cozzarelli. The 2011 awards will be presented at the PNAS Editorial Board meeting, and awardees will be recognized at an awards ceremony during the NAS Annual Meeting on April 30, 2012, in Washington, DC.

(Photo of Nicholas R. Cozzarelli,
courtesy of University of California, Berkeley)

2011 Cozzarelli Prize Recipients

Class I (Physical and Mathematical Sciences):

"Microaerobic steroid biosynthesis and the molecular fossil record of Archean life," by Jacob R. Waldbauer, Dianne K. Newman, and Roger E. Summons

Class II (Biological Sciences):

"Mild hyperthermia inhibits homologous recombination, induces BRCA2 degradation, and sensitizes cancer cells to poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 inhibition," by Przemek M. Krawczyk, Berina Eppink, Jeroen Essers, Jan Stap, Hans Rodermond, Hanny Odijk, Alex Zelensky, Chris van Bree, Lukas J. Stalpers, Marrije R. Buist, Thomas Soullié, Joost Rens, Hence J.M. Verhagen, Mark J. O'Connor, Nicolaas A.P. Franken, Timo L.M. ten Hagen, Roland Kanaar, and Jacob A. Aten

A commentary accompanying this article is available: www.pnas.org/content/108/24/9731.full

Class III (Engineering and Applied Sciences):

"The Voronoi Implicit Interface Method for computing multiphase physics," by Robert I. Saye and James A. Sethian

Class IV (Biomedical Sciences):

"Masking the 5′ terminal nucleotides of the hepatitis C virus genome by an unconventional microRNA-target RNA complex," by Erica S. Machlin, Peter Sarnow, and Selena M. Sagan

A commentary accompanying this article is available: www.pnas.org/content/108/8/3101.full

Class V (Behavioral and Social Sciences):

"The long shadow cast by childhood physical and mental problems on adult life," by Alissa Goodman, Robert Joyce, and James P. Smith

Class VI (Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences):

"Conditions associated with protected area success in conservation and poverty reduction," by Paul J. Ferraro, Merlin M. Hanauer, and Katharine R.E. Sims

PNAS is one of the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific journals. It covers the biological, physical, and social sciences and mathematics and publishes cutting-edge research reports, commentaries, reviews, perspectives, colloquium papers, and actions of the Academy. PNAS appears weekly in print, and daily online as PNAS Early Edition. Newly published papers are listed at www.pnas.org/content/early/recent.

For more information about PNAS, visit www.pnas.org.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences