Research funding is a limited resource, even for the largest of global science foundations, and is typically awarded, after much deliberation, to the best investigators and institutes, via a streamlined decision-making process.

One of the largest such foundations is the UK based independent global charity, the Wellcome Trust. It funds high-impact biomedical research in the UK and internationally, made possible by its current invested endowment of about £16 billion. Kevin Moses, Director of Science Funding at the Wellcome Trust was recently on campus to talk about the Wellcome Trust as a global bio-medical research funder and bring the community up to speed with its world-wide activities.

Finally, we have another reason to believe that everyone is hard at work within the walls at NCBS! Faculty, students and researchers have lit up the world stage and brought back accolades. Here, we present a list of the prize winners from 2008 and 2009. We hope to follow up soon with a list from 2010!

A hard fought battle between competitors and judges has boiled down to these final, but difficult decisions. The first NCBS photo competition has come to an end with the announcement of the judges decision for best photo and runner-up. Ashesh's brilliant image of the hole in the roof of the cave had a clear edge over competition with unanimous votes from all our judges. The winner was clear, but the heat was on for the second spot.

As with the popular vote winners, the winners of the judges prize will receive cash awards reimbursable against the purchase of books, for Rs 1000 and Rs 250 respectively.Winners can contact the accounts section with the bills corresponding to their book purchase in order to receive their reimbursements.