We are very happy to announce our this year´s winner of the Werner Risau Prize: Dr. Esther Bovay, from Tatiana Petrova´s Department of Fundamental Oncology at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). We again had received excellent applications, of which Dr. Bovay´s study, published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine made it to the top of the list. Hers is a very interesting study (also underscored by the fact, that it received an extra editorial devoted to it), in which she focused on lymphatic vessels and elucidates the development of the lymph node capsule. Furthermore, she nicely demonstrates that interstitial fluid flow (a mechanical stimulus!) is a major force in the promotion of lymph node maturation. (http://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20181898). Congratulations!

We are happy to announce our this year´s winner of the Werner Risau Prize: Dr. Alban Lonchamp, who is currently working as Resident in General Surgery in the Hopital du Valais in Sion, Switzerland. The work related to the project now considered for the Werner Risau Prize was mainly done in the labs of James D. Mitchell and Keith Okazaki at the Harvard University / Brigham and Women´s Hospital in Boston. In the abstract to this study it says"…Here, we report a nutrient-based pathway triggered by dietary restriction of sulfur amino acids, regulating angiogenesis independent of hypoxia or HIF1alpha in mice…" And further: …"Nutrio"-angiogenesis required the amino acid - sensing eIF2alpha kinase GCN2 and the transcription factor ATF4 in ECs. Increased ATF4 promoted expression of VEGF and the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) produced cystathionine-gamma-lyase (CGL). H2S triggered a metabolic switch to glycolysis via inhibition of mitochondrial respiration, thus facilitating rapid ATP production necessary for EC migration…" The discovery of this novel nutrient sensing pathway that appears even targetable by an appropriate diet independent of the hitherto known signaling pathways certainly deserves the acknowledgement given by the Werner Risau Prize. Congratulations!