This November, the Food & Function International Symposia took place. The three one day series of symposia were held at National Chung Hsing University, Taichung City, Taiwan; Peking University, Beijing, China and Southwest University, Chongqing, China, on the 25th, 27th and 29th November, respectively. We are very grateful to our hosts, Professors Steven Feng Chen, Gow-Chin Yen, and Guo Hua Zhao, for their generous hospitality and the considerable help they gave us to make these events so successful.
We were delighted to be able to award several prizes at the three events. Pictured on the right are the successful winners collecting their prizes (from top to bottom: winners from the Taiwan event, the Beijing event and the Chongqing event, together with Food & Function Managing Editor, Sarah Ruthven). Poster prize winners from the Taiwan event were: Cheng-Ying Ho (Protective effects of diallyl sulfide against OVA-induced murine allergic asthma model via upregulation of Nrf2), Chih-Min Yang (Antimetastatic effects of α-carotene and possible mechanisms of action in Human hepatocarcinoma SK-Hep-1 cells) and Min-Hsueh Tai (Curcurmin supresses 
PCSK9 gene expression through HNF-1α reduction and increases LDL uptake in HepG2 cells). Food & Function prize winners from the Beijing event were: Xiaorong Lin (Interactions among chemical components of cocoa tea (Camellia ptilophylla Chang), a natural low caffeine-containing tea species) Fang Fang (Study on antidiabetic activities of Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina L.) drupes extracts) and Jixiang Lai (Investigations of antioxidant activity and gene expression of black soybean sprouts). Poster prize winners from the Chongqing event were: Yi Liu (Effect of pretreatment on enzymatic hydrolysis of bovine collagen and formation of ACE-inhibitory peptides), Jia Liu (Synthesis characterisation and aqueous self-assembly of octenyl-succinate oact β-glucan), Daoqi Long (Blasting extrusion of wheat bran: determination of optimum processing conditions and extrudate physiocochemical properties), Si Tan 
(The antimetabolic disorder effects of kumquat fruit extracts (FME) on high-fat diet-induced C57BL/6 obese mice) and Jian Liu. We would like to congratulate all the prize winners on their achievements.
The symposia featured talks by an outstanding list of speakers including Food & Function Associate Editor Professor Steven Feng Chen (Peking University, China), new Editorial Board Chair Professor Kevin Croft (University of Western Australia) and Editorial Board member Professor Vincenzo Fogliano (Wageningen University, The Netherlands). Dr Bettina Wolf (University of Nottingham, UK) and Dr Hang Xiao (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) were also speaking at all three locations. Delegates had an enjoyable time and there were stimulating discussions during the week.
