Finalists announced for 2004 Descartes Prize

Brussels, 20 Oct 2004

The eight finalists for the 2004 Descartes Prize have been announced by the European Commission. The subjects addressed by the short-listed projects are wide ranging and include new methods for drug delivery to treat heart disease, a new device for detecting breast cancer, the production of photonic multi-branched molecules for use in energy conversion and new solutions for data storage.

The one million euro prize will be awarded in Prague, the Czech Republic, on 2 December according to the decision of the Grand Jury. The jury will this year be chaired by Professor Ene Ergma, Vice-President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and Chair of the Estonian Parliament.

This year's ceremony will also see the presentation of the first Descartes Prize for science communication. The winner will receive 250,000 euro.

The finalists for this year's Descartes Prize were selected from a field of over 200 research teams representing all EU Member States and third countries. Cross-border collaboration is a criterion for entering the Descartes Prize competition.

The 2004 finalists are:
- Protecting Internet applications from attack (MAFTIA);
- Better heart treatments, safer radiotherapy and a cure for age-related blindness (Local therapy);
- Stopping the spread of cancer's deadly seeds (uPAR);
- Molecular trees make versatile nano devices (Dendrimers);
- Secrets of ageing and degenerative diseases revealed in the mitochondria (MBAD Mitochondrial Biogenesis, Ageing and Disease);
- From quantum teleportation to secure communication (IST-QuComm);
- Better data storage: magic magnetic materials (CSNM - computational science of novel materials);
- Better, safer, breast cancer diagnosis: photons prove better than x-rays (APLOMB).

For further information, please consult the following web address:
http:///www.cordis.lu/descartes

CORDIS RTD-NEWS / © European Communities
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