One of Journal of Materials Chemistry's 'emerging investigators' has been awarded a European Young Investigator Award.

Jeroen Cornelissen, an organic chemist at Radboud University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, will use his 1 million euro award for research using virus capsids as confined reaction spaces, effectively using the protein mantle of a virus as a test tube.

Cornelissen contributed to the recent Emerging Investigator theme issue of Journal of Materials Chemistry. His paper, Synthesis, characterisation and chiroptical properties of clickable polyisocyanopeptides, was one of 24 communications and full articles written by outstanding researchers within the first few years of their independent careers. 

The European Science Foundation gave the EURYI 2007 awards to 20 young scientists from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. Most of the cash prizes are 1-1.25 million euro paid out over five years, and the average age of this year's winners is 33.1.