Harp Minhas, editor of Integrative Biology, says: 'Congratulations to Professor Tsien, from all of us at the RSC. We are all immensely pleased that 2008 Nobel Prize winner Roger Tsien is an editorial board member for Integrative Biology; his work typifies the quality of material we are seeking in the development of biology through new tools and technologies.'

Derivatives of GFP are used in experiments to observe cell dynamics and behaviour - their fluorescent glow allows scientists to visualise processes inside cells.

Furthermore, as it is non-toxic to cells it can be used in live cell (in vitro) studies meaning that real time analysis of cells is possible.

GFP is a protein first extracted from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria in the 1960s by Osamu Shimomura, who was jointly awarded this year's prize with Tsien and Martin Chalfie. Variants of GFP can fluoresce in different colours, allowing several different proteins in a cell to be studied simultaneously.

Lab on a Chip, the miniaturisation journal for chemistry, biology and bioengineering, has yet again shown extensive community support by sponsoring some of the most prestigious prizes in the miniaturisation field. At this year's µ-TAS meeting in San Diego the journal, together with Corning Inc., awarded the 'Pioneers in Miniaturisation Prize' to Patrick Doyle, professor at the department of chemical engineering at MIT, US. Jean-Louis Viovy from the Institute Curie comments on Doyle's work: '[Patrick] developed the "stop-flow lithography" technological platform, which I consider a major breakthrough in microfluidics.'

Lab on a Chip also awarded the 'Widmer Young Researcher Poster Award' to Maged Fouad for best poster and presentation. Among 589 candidates, this poster titled 'Nanotechnology meets plant biotechnology: carbon nanotubes deliver  DNA and incorporate into  the plant cell structure' caught the judges' eyes.

A new award named 'Art in Science' recognised the aesthetic value in scientific illustrations.'The winner, Yu Wen Huang (Texas A & M University) clearly understood the principles of this award and produced an image that was reminiscent of a tall city building seen in an early morning fog. The picture is an optical effect generated by concentrated double-stranded DNA in the vicinity of a 50 micrometre wide electrode inside a microchannel,' comments Harp Minhas, editor of Lab on a Chip, who proudly presented all awards to the winners.

This textbook has been fully revised and updated and includes a foreword written by Heston Blumenthal. Look out for other exciting new food science books in 2009 such as Kitchen Chemistry (new volume), Handbook of Culture Media for Food and Water Microbiology and Nanotechnologies in Food.