Seven scientists have been awarded this year's prestigious Ranbaxy Science Foundation awards for excellence in different fields of medical research. They include a husband and wife team and an Indian working in the US. The awardees are: Minnie M Mathan and V I Mathan, professor of pathology and professor of medicine and gastroenterology, respectively at the Christian Medical College, Vellore; Asis Datta, vice-chancellor and professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; M Vijayan, professor of molecular biophysics at the India Institute of Science, Bangalore; N K Ganguly, head of the department of experimental medicine and biotechnology, Post-Graduate Institute for Medicinal and Education and Research, Chandigarh; N K Mehra, professor of histocompatibility and immunogenetics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; and A K Ganguly, senior vice-president, chemical research, Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA.

The awards were distributed at a function held in New Delhi on November 13. The foundation also organised a symposium titled Drug Resistance: Mechanisms and Management. Eminent medical scientist V Ramalingaswami made a presentation and urged that greater attention be paid to behavioural factors than technology in dealing with the problems posed by the resurgence of tuberculosis.