In the category "young talent", the two freelance journalists Lydia Klöckner and Adrian Lobe has been honoured with the renowned Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize for science journalism. The prize recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of science journalism.

A team of scientists from the Cluster of Excellence for inflammation research at the Kiel University has decrypted an important mechanism with in vitro methods. Now they are able to explain which cell type produces the major inflammatory messenger IL-9 on a large scale. IL-9 plays an important role in allergic reactions or during the anti-tumor activity of the immune system.

In the category "science" and "training", several scientists are qualified for the prize of the British cosmetics producer LUSH. In this year, 55 nominations from 21 countries have been selected. £250,000 prize money (equivalent to just 278,000 euros) will be shared by the winners to support the ending of animal experiments in research, industry and training. The winners will be awarded during a conference on 11 November in London.

Researcher from the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Bonn University led by Professor Wolfgang Voos have decrypted a new mechanism which possibly contributes to the development of the Alzheimer´s disease. Thus, the beta amyloid depositions are not responsible for the dying of nerve cells but they prevent the supply of important proteins into the mitochondria.