Toxins Best Paper Award 2015

In order to recognize outstanding papers related to biotoxins and toxinology that have been published in Toxins, the Editorial Board established an annual “Toxins Best Paper Award”. We are pleased to announce the first “Toxins Best Paper Award” for 2015. Nominations were selected by the Editorial Board members, with all papers published in 2011 eligible for consideration. Reviews and original research articles were evaluated separately. Following review and voting by the Toxins Best Paper Award Committee, the following three papers have won Toxins Best Paper Awards for 2015:

• Original Research Article Award
  The following two research articles will share the award:

  • Baozhu Guo, Natalie D. Fedorova, Xiaoping Chen, Chun-Hua Wan, Wei Wang, William C. Nierman, Deepak Bhatnagar and Jiujiang Yu *
    Gene Expression Profiling and Identification of Resistance Genes to Aspergillus flavus Infection in Peanut through EST and Microarray Strategies
    Toxins 2011, 3(7), 737-753; doi:10.3390/toxins3070737
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/3/7/737
  • Mohamed Anwar Bin-Umer, John E. McLaughlin, Debaleena Basu, Susan McCormick and Nilgun E. Tumer *
    Trichothecene Mycotoxins Inhibit Mitochondrial Translation—Implication for the Mechanism of Toxicity
    Toxins 2011, 3(12), 1484-1501; doi:10.3390/toxins3121484
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/3/12/1484
• Review Award

  • Susan P. McCormick *, April M. Stanley, Nicholas A. Stover and Nancy J. Alexander
    Trichothecenes: From Simple to Complex Mycotoxins
    Toxins 2011, 3(7), 802-814; doi:10.3390/toxins3070802
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/3/7/802

Members of the Toxins Best Paper Award Committee described the article “Gene Expression Profiling and Identification of Resistance Genes to Aspergillus flavus Infection in Peanut through EST and Microarray Strategies” as “…this innovative study not only sheds light on the infection process, and associated resistance, but represents an excellent starting point for future development of tools to monitor aflatoxins, and improve crops with respect to this widespread fungal pathogen…”. The article “Trichothecene Mycotoxins Inhibit Mitochondrial Translation-Implication for the Mechanism of Toxicity” represents “…an important finding with respect to understanding these widespread toxins…. The study defines a novel mode of action, demonstrating that in addition to cytosolic translation, mitochondrial translation is a primary target of trichothecene mycotoxins.” The review “Trichothecenes: from Simple to Complex Mycotoxins” is “a concise, yet comprehensive, overview of trichothecene mycotoxin biosynthesis and classification”.

These three papers are valuable contributions to Toxins, as well as to the toxinology field in general. On behalf of the Toxins Best Paper Award Committee and the Editorial Board of Toxins, I congratulate the winners for their significant contributions and thank them for choosing to publish their best work in Toxins. In recognition of their accomplishments, both Dr. Jiujiang Yu and Dr. Nilgun E. Tumer will receive a prize of 500 CHF, as well as an opportunity to publish an additional paper free of charge in open access format in Toxins, after the standard peer-review process. Dr. Susan P. McCormick will be awarded the privilege of publishing an additional research paper, with all publication fees waived, in Open Access format in Toxins, after the standard peer-review procedure.

The Editorial Board and Editorial Staff at Toxins is committed to meeting the needs of the toxin research community by providing useful and timely reviews of all manuscripts submitted, and providing an open access journal for your results. Please consider submitting your work to Toxins, and I look forward to announcing your paper as a Toxins Best Paper in the future.

Toxins Best Paper Award Committee

• Editor-in-Chief
  Prof. Dr. Vernon L. Tesh
  Department of Microbial and Molecular Pathogenesis, Medical Research and Education Building, Room 3002, College of Medicine, Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, 8447 State Highway 47, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
  E-Mail: [email protected]
  Editor-in-Chief of Section “Bacterial Toxins”
• Founding Editor-in-Chief
  Prof. Dr. Med. Florian Lang
  Physiologisches Institut I, Universität Tübingen, Gmelinstrasse 5, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
  E-Mail: [email protected]
• Section Editor-in-Chief of “Marine and Freshwater Toxins”
  Prof. Dr. John P. Berry
  Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University (FIU), 354/332 Marine Science, Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151st St., North Miami, FL 33181, USA
  E-Mail: [email protected]
• Prof. Massimo Reverberi
  Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University, Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
  E-Mail: [email protected]