Awardees of the 2021 IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU International Award for Advancements in Green Chemistry

We are delighted to announce the 2021 recipients of the established IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU International Award for Advancements in Green Chemistry. We congratulate Gabriele Laudadio from the Scripps Research Institute, Lichen Liu from Tsinghua University, and Jingxiang Low from University of Science and Technology of China as the early career award winners, and David Milstein from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel for the experienced chemist award.

Reaching Behind the Black Screen

Shira Passentin is a MSc student in the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute of Science. She also is a teacher of science and technology in a middle school (junior high school) in Israel. In this article, she describes a simple biophysical activity, performed by her students at home during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns, which explicates the meaning and importance of surface area in a biologic context.

Women’s leadership in chemistry education: An interview with Rachel Mamlok-Naaman

Dr. Rachel Mamlok-Naaman, from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, is a distinguished researcher in chemistry education. This paper presents an interview that was conducted in light of her achievements and in recognition of her receiving the IUPAC 2021 award for Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering.

First person – Maayan Barnea-Zohar and Sabina E. Winograd-Katz

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Maayan Barnea-Zohar and Sabina E. Winograd-Katz are co-first authors on ‘ An SNX10-dependent mechanism downregulates fusion between mature osteoclasts’, published in JCS. Maayan is a research assistant in the lab of Ari Elson at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, investigating cell–cell fusion in osteoclasts and how cell size is determined. Sabina is a research assistant and lab manager in the lab of Benjamin Geiger at the Weizmann Institute of Science, investigating cell biology and signaling.

First person – Wenhong Li

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Wenhong Li is first author on ‘Differential cellular responses to adhesive interactions with galectin-8- and fibronectin-coated substrates’, published in JCS. Wenhong is a PhD student in the lab of Prof. Alexander Bershadsky and Prof. Benjamin Geiger at the Department of Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, investigating cell spreading on an animal lectin, galectin-8.

TT2020 meeting report on the 16th Transgenic Technology Meeting

The 16th transgenic technology (TT) meeting of the International Society of Transgenic technology (ISTT) took place on October 26–29th 2020 and was quite unique as it was the first-ever virtual meeting in the history of ISTT events. Dr. Rebecca Haffner-Krausz at Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, was the local organizer of the meeting, which attracted 756 registered participants from 32 different countries.