Danica Ramljak, D.V.M., Ph.D was elected to a four year term as the new Director of the Rudjer Boskovic Institute at the meeting of the Board of Governors held on 24th March 2009.

Eleven leading European ion-beam facilities joined together in the network - SPIRIT (Support of Public and Industrial Research using Ion Beam Technology). The network was officially launched at a kickoff-meeting on March 6, 2009, held at the Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD) in Dresden, Germany.

As a part of their official visit to Croatia the representatives of the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission headed by Dr. Takako Hirose visited the Rudjer Boskovic Institute on Friday. The guests were welcomed by acting director Dr. Jaroslav Horvat, Dr. Mary Ranogajec, Dr. Stjepko Fazinić and Dr. Tonči Tadić.

On Monday, March 16th, the representatives from the Kent State University (Ohio, USA) Dr. Timothy S. Moerland, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, and Dr. Mary Anne Saunders, Executive Director, Office of International Affairs, visited the Rudjer Boskovic Institute. The distinguished guests met with Dr. Jaroslav Horvat, Dr. Kata Majerski, Dr. Igor Weber and Dr. Mladen Žinić. The purpose of this meeting was to exchange information and experiences as well as to discuss the possible cooperation between the two institutions.

At the Session, held on 18 February 2009, the Board of Governors of the Society of University Teachers, Scholars and Other Scientists, Zagreb, honoured dr. Branimir Bertoša with the Annual Award for Young Scientists and Artists.

The paper Dirac cones and minigaps for graphene on Ir(111) was published in the latest edition of one of the most prestigious and widely read journals in Physics - Physical Review Letters.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ethanol-chlorobenzene dosimetry system, which was developed by Croatian scientists at the Ruđer Bošković Institute, is the third most widely used dosimetry system in both, research and industrial applications of radiation processing.

'An ancient evolutionary origin of genes associated with human genetic diseases' by Dr Tomislav Domazet-Lošo from the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Croatia, and Dr Diethard Tautz from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany, reached the fourth place of the 'Hidden Jewel' list of the Faculty of 1000 Biology.

The joint research project ‘Molecular dynamics of S-Adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (SAHH) and its role in regulation of gene expression’ (dr. Oliver Vugrek and dr. Yaron Shav-Tal, Bar-Ilan University) has been awarded 50.000 US dollars per year for the next two years by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia and the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport of the State of Israel.