eLife recognises early-career researchers; Academic editors showcase five outstanding studies

The academic editors of eLife, the open-access journal for the very best in life science and biomedical research, have selected five articles to represent the breadth, quality, and importance of work published by the journal. These studies will be showcased by an early-career author at a scientific meeting of one of eLife’s founding organisations -- the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society, or the Wellcome Trust, creating valuable exposure for junior investigators.

These five are the second set in the “eLife-sponsored Presentation Series”, first announced in October 2013 to highlight the scientific contributions of scientists who have yet to be fully established in their respective fields.

Selected papers were published between June and December 2013 and have advanced our understanding in diverse areas of biology, including the causes of rheumatoid arthritis, antimicrobial drug resistance, the signaling pathways involved in embryo development, and the evolution of ant body shapes. They include:

Expansion of intestinal Prevotella copri correlates with enhanced susceptibility to arthritis

Jose U Scher, Andrew Sczesnak, Randy S Longman, Nicola Segata, Carles Ubeda, Craig Bielski, Tim Rostron, Vincenzo Cerundolo, Eric G Pamer, Steven B Abramson, Curtis Huttenhower, Dan R Littman

Structure and function of the Smoothened extracellular domain in vertebrate Hedgehog signaling

Sigrid Nachtergaele, Daniel M Whalen, Laurel K Mydock, Zhonghua Zhao, Tomas Malinauskas, Kathiresan Krishnan, Philip W Ingham, Douglas F Covey, Christian Siebold, Rajat Rohatgi

Evolution of thorax architecture in ant castes highlights trade-off between flight and ground behaviors

Roberto A Keller, Christian Peeters, Patrícia Beldade

Fitness benefits in fluoroquinolone-resistant Salmonella Typhi in the absence of antimicrobial pressure

Stephen Baker, Pham Thanh Duy, Tran Vu Thieu Nga, Tran Thi Ngoc Dung, Voong Vinh Phat, Tran Thuy Chau, A Keith Turner, Jeremy Farrar, Maciej F Boni

Bone Morphogenic Protein signalling suppresses differentiation of pluripotent cells by maintaining expression of E-Cadherin

Mattias Malaguti, Paul A Nistor, Guillaume Blin, Amy Pegg, Xinzhi Zhou, Sally Lowell

Authors Curtis Huttenhower, Rajat Rohatgi, Mattias Malaguti, Roberto Keller, Stephen Baker will now be sponsored to present their work at their choice of the meetings hosted by one of eLife’s founding organisations.

“One goal of eLife is to provide a positive publishing experience for students and postdocs, which will encourage them to pursue a career in science,” said Fiona Watt, eLife Deputy editor and Director of the King's College London Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine. “That is why we do our best to provide quick decisions, constructive feedback, and wide exposure of published work. Congratulations to Curtis, Rajat, Mattias, Roberto and Stephen for publishing such beautiful work in eLife.”

The eLife-sponsored Presentation Series is just one element in eLife’s suite of initiatives to support early-career investigators. Efforts are described in an editorial from the academic leadership.