Outlook in 2011

Rare gene variants could be key to unlocking the underlying genetics of allergy, now that whole genome sequencing and other technologies have sharpened the focus of epidemiology.

Microbes are under the spotlight in efforts to unravel — and combat — allergies.

Stephen Holgate argues for a return to more human-centred studies of allergy and asthma.

As researchers map the stable parts of the proteins that stud the surface of influenza, the decades-long quest for a universal flu vaccine is showing signs of progress.

In Lindau, a colloquy between a Nobel laureate and three students encouraged the young researchers to grapple with some of the biggest challenges in drug development.

Chemist at the University of Strasbourg in France. Shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for development and use of molecules that recognize and interact with each other. Coined 'supramolecular chemistry', it is an area of chemistry that exploits non-covalent interactions. Born in 1939 in Rosheim in France, Lehn was the son of a baker who later became the city's organist. Music is Lehn's main passion other than science.

Virologist at German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg. Joint winner of 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovery of the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in causing cervical cancer. zur Hausen was born in 1936 in Gelsenkirchen-Buer in Germany, an area that was heavily bombed during the Second World War.

Biophysicist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Shared 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for knowledge of the structure and function of the ribosome — the intracellular machine that builds proteins from instructions carried by RNA. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1940. The oldest of five children, Steitz has admitted to being an average student in high school, until motivated to compete against his youngest brother who was getting better grades. Steitz was a keen musician and chorister, and considered a career in music before finally choosing to pursue science.

Biochemist at Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology in Haifa. Shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the ubiquitin system, which mediates protein degradation in all plant and animal cells by destroying proteins that are denatured, misfolded or no longer needed. Family moved from Poland in the 1920s, and he was born in Haifa in 1947. The following year the state of Israel was established.

Biochemist at the University of Washington in Seattle, he won a share of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning reversible phosphorylation: a regulatory mechanism that activates and deactivates enzymes in the vast majority of living cells. Fischer was born in Shanghai, China, in 1920.

X-ray crystallographer currently at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. She won a share of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on the structure and function of the ribosome. Yonath was born in 1939 in Jerusalem to a poor family. Her father died when she was 11 years old, and Yonath helped support her mother and younger sister. Yonath was the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel prize and the first woman in 45 years to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Biochemist at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, he shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that nitric oxide acts as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system, prompting blood vessels to relax. Murad was born in Whiting, Indiana in 1936. His American mother was only 17 years old when she eloped with his father, an Albanian immigrant. His parents ran a restaurant, where he and his two brothers worked. Murad used to memorize customers' orders and mentally tally their bills, which he believed trained his memory and maths skills.

Elizabeth Blackburn gave the first lecture at the 2011 Lindau meeting, describing her Nobel prizewinning work on telomeres. These chromosomal caps are known to play a role in cancer and are implicated in ageing — but their full biological utility remains a mystery.

The United States publishes more biomedical research papers than ever before, yet drug development is stagnating. Several new initiatives aim to turn this knowledge into new remedies.

After a decade of disappointments, hopes for a successful Alzheimer's vaccine that ameliorates symptoms and ultimately prevents the disease are rising again.

New methods to follow changes in the brain or blood associated with Alzheimer's disease are critical for developing and testing drugs, says Neil S. Buckholtz.

As the number of Alzheimer's cases rises rapidly in an ageing global population, the need to understand this puzzling disease is growing.

Attempts to reduce amyloid-β in the brain have yet to show clinical benefits. Starting treatment early is the best hope, says Sam Gandy