This volume comprises contributions from faculty and postdoctoral finalists of the 2011 New York Academy of Sciences Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists.  The Awards celebrate the excellence of some of the most promising young scientists in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut by acknowledging their highly innovative, multidisciplinary accomplishments in the life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering.  Included in this volume are manuscripts of the individual finalists' areas of research, which provide a glimpse of some of today’s most compelling scholarly work.

NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit http://ordering.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/subs.asp?ref=1749-6632&doi=10.1111/(ISSN)1749-6632.

ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

For 200 years—since 1817—the Academy has brought together extraordinary people working at the frontiers of discovery. Among the oldest scientific organizations in the United States, it has become not only an enduring cultural institution in New York, but also one of the most significant organizations in the global scientific community.