BioMed Central (a sister company of The Scientist) announced today that Microsoft will be sponsoring BMC's annual research awards -- funding two $5000 prizes for research of major significance published in any of BMC's open access journals in 2007.

Lee Dirks, the director of scholarly communication for Microsoft Research (a research branch of Microsoft that also collaborates with colleges and universities) said in the press release: "We are very supportive of the open science movement and recognize that open access publication is an important component of overall scholarly communications."

BMC is now accepting nominations until December 21 for the best research in biology and medicine published in any of their journals. Click here for more information about the awards and to nominate your favorite papers -- but, unfortunately, not your own!