Nobody knows the value of patience more than those involved in Genomic Research. The painstaking efforts in research are transformed into tremendous success with perseverance and time. Sometimes the results may transform the very face of research. It is such transformational efforts that we wish to recognize through an exciting new award, Genomic Pioneers Award. The purpose of the Genomic Pioneers Award is to recognize excellence and outstanding contribution to the field of Genomics using integrated state-of-the-art approaches. The Award is funded by Ocimum Biosolutions. As Albert Szent-Gyorgyi a US biochemist said, “A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind”.

The first edition of the Genomic Pioneers Award focuses on the excellence in using Oligonucleotides in advancing Genomic Research. Synthetic DNA Oligonucleotides now have wide spectrum of applications ranging from being used in fundamental research, as diagnostic reagents to discovery of pharmaceutical compounds. This makes it an integral part of any scientific research. The Award will be conferred to a practicing scientist who has demonstrated excellence through their novel use of Oligonucleotides in Functional Genomics. There are 3 Awards being constituted each one in the months of September 2008, November 2008 and January 2009.

If you are actively involved in research at a University, or other research institution in the public or private sector, or in Industry, you are eligible to participate in this Award. We also encourage early-career scientists (recent PhDs, Post Docs and New group leaders) to apply for this Award.

The winners of the maiden edition of the Genomic Pioneer Awards were announced at the HUGO’s 13th international meeting on the Human Genome on 30 September, 2008.

The Genomic Pioneer Award winner from Europe is Dr Sylvie Chauvaux, Asst Professor, Institut Pasteur, Paris specializes in molecular biology. Her research experience involves use of oligonucleotides for a large spectrum of applications such as cloning (polymerase chain reaction or PCR), site-directed mutagenesis (Kunkel method), detection (colony and Southern blot hybridizations), quantification (quantitative real time PCR) and more recently, regulation-network study of gene expression on a genomic scale (DNA macroarrays). Her work corresponding best to the award is the transcriptome analysis of Yersinia pestis in human plasma. Y. pestis is the causative agent of plague, a fatal disease if an antibiotic therapy is not quickly initiated. In order to identify factors that are involved in the septicaemic phase of the disease in humans (terminal phase before death), whole-genome macroarrays of a fully virulent strain of Y. pestis was used. Different hybridizations of macroarrays gave rise to approximately 100.000 expression data whose analysis lead to the identification of virulence factors which were not only previously known but also putative new. These results are essential for better understanding of the tremendous pathogenicity of this bacterium which represents a permanent concern for human health in the world. Indeed, plague has not been eradicated and natural plague foci are found in numerous countries in Africa, in the Americas and in Asia (including India). Her article describing this oligonucleotide-based work has been evaluated for Faculty of 1000 Medicine, an authoritative online service in which over 2400 of the world’s leading clinicians and researchers highlight and evaluate the most influential articles published in medicine.

The Genomic Pioneer Award winner from Asia-Pacific is Dr. Juergen Pipper, Senior Scientist at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore. Since 2004, he has been leading a project at the Institute , which aims at developing a micro total analysis system (mTAS) for RNA / DNA sample purification/ preconcentration from raw samples followed by a real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The goals of this research are fast, decentralized diagnostic tests for genotyping and (re)emerging infectious / parasitic diseases and their management.

The Genomic Pioneer Award winner from India is Dr. Srikanta Kumar Rath, Scientist, Genotoxicity Laboratory, Central Drug Research Institute. Dr Rath has contributed significantly to the field of molecular toxicology and understanding of disease genomics by developing  assays for genotoxicity using oligonucleotides and real-time approaches. He has built a tremendous understanding of SNPs in different DNA repair genes in several subpopulations of India and  an understanding of gene expression profile of Anti malarials. Dr Rath was one of the key implementors in the creation of Indian Genome Variation Consortium database (IGVdb). Dr Rath’s vision is to develop models to understand toxicity and disease effects. Dr Rath is making efforts to study toxicity and human disease parallely and to make the convergence at some point which will be useful in future for diagnosis.

Announcing the winners Anu Acharya, CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions, congratulated all the award winners on their achievement and hoped that this would motivate many others to participate in the upcoming editions of Genomic Pioneer Awards in subsequent years.