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The winners of BioMed Central's 3rd Annual Research Awards were announced at an awards ceremony at London's Barbican Centre. 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 Zürich
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, Köhler 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.