Dr Tomislav Domazet-Lošo, an extraordinary evolutionary geneticist from Croatia, winner of many distinguished awards and acknowledgments, has been attracting huge media and scientific interest for a quite some time now. Following a major discovery of a novel methodological approach in evolutionary studies - 'genomic phylostratigraphy', which was published in Trends in Genetics, a new discovery hit the headlines last year. Namely, Dr Domezet-Lošo and Dr Tautz have systematically analysed the time of emergence for a large number of genes – genes which can also initiate diseases. Their studies show for the first time that the majority of these genes were already in existence at the origin of the first cells. This leads to the conclusion that not only humans, but all living organisms will be affected by similar genetic diseases. Their study was published in Molecular Biology and Evolution as well as in the prestigious scientific journal New Scientist, and presented as exceptionally interesting discovery in the authoritative weekly newspaper, The Economist.

Faculty of 1000 Biology is a revolutionary new online research service that comprehensively and systematically highlights and evaluates the most interesting papers published in the biological sciences. The papers are recommended by a virtual 'faculty' consisting of over 2300 of the world's leading scientists. The aim of the 'Hidden Jewels' feature is to highlight papers on the basis of their scientific merit, regardless of where they are published.

For every young scientist the most significant recognition of his work is the evaluation and appreciation by the overall scientific community. This is the second paper by Dr Domazet-Lošo recommended by the Faculty of 1000 Biology.