The Merck Young Scientist Award 2009 will launch in April. The objectives of the award are to encourage life science and analytical research in Malaysia and promote excellence in the development of local young scientists in the area. The contest is open to Malaysian post-graduates from both private and public universities and winners will be chosen based on the quality of their research papers and oral presentation.

The Merck Young Scientist Award was first launched in February 2008. The original field of research was biosciences — proteomics, protein expressions, cancer, diabetes and inflammation — but for the competition's second year the field has been widened to include chromatography; especially high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) touching on natural product, food and environmental research and drug discovery.

The award is supported by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).

More information on Merck and the award is available at www.merck.com