Kay Grünewald, Ph.D., a NIAMS visiting postdoctoral fellow, was recently selected as the winner of NIH's annual Norman P. Salzman Memorial Award in Virology. The award, sponsored by the Virology Interest Group and the Foundation for the NIH, honors young scientists and their mentors and was established in recognition of the 40-year career of Dr. Salzman for his work in virology research and mentoring. Dr. Grünewald's mentor was Alasdair Steven, Ph.D., chief of the NIAMS Laboratory of Structural Biology Research.

Dr. Grünewald received the award for his analysis of the herpes simplex virus using cryo-tomography. The technique combines cryo-technology, which preserves a specimen such as a virus in a super-cooled, glass-like and hydrated state, with electron tomography, which reconstructs an object in three dimensions from a series of two-dimensional projection pictures of this object.

Drs. Grünewald and Steven were recognized on November 20 at the Salzman Virology Symposium held in NIH's Cloisters. Dr. Grünewald said it was a great honor for him to be selected as this year's winner of the Salzman award: "I am thrilled to win this award that was established in the spirit of Dr. Salzman - for the great work he did in promoting the mentoring of young doctoral fellows and virology research. Dr. Steven was an excellent mentor throughout the course of my project. Other members of the Laboratory of Structural Biology also contributed, and we are all excited about the prospect of applying this powerful new technique to other viruses and cellular structures."

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