The 2019 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize has been awarded to four scientists for pioneering work in the field of optogenetics, a revolutionary technique that uses light and genetic modification to control the activity of cells in the brain.
Optogenetics holds promise not only for unraveling some of the brain's more confounding mysteries, including decision-making and behavior, but also for elucidating and manipulating circuits that underlie serious neurologic and neuropsychiatric disorders as well as for testing and monitoring response to treatment.
Optogenetics allows researchers to precision-target neurons in the brain and study how the activity of these cells contributes to simple and complex behaviors. Moreover, optogenetic manipulation of degenerating or aberrant neural circuits in the human brain carries the promise to restore vision loss, preserve movement following spinal cord injury, or dampen down circuits that fuel anxiety, depression and other psychiatric conditions.
Collectively, the work of the four scientists honored this year has transformed neuroscience by allowing researchers an unprecedented degree of control over the inner workings of the brain. Their discoveries established the field of optogenetics, propelled it forward and laid the foundation for optogenetic-based therapies for disorders ranging from Parkinson's to addiction.
The Warren Alpert Foundation, in association with Harvard Medical School, honors scientists whose work has improved the understanding, prevention, treatment or cure of human disease.
The honorees will share a $500,000 prize and will be recognized at a daylong symposium on Oct. 3 at Harvard Medical School.
The 2019 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize recipients are:
Edward Boyden, the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT, associate professor of media arts and sciences at the MIT Media Lab and an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, for his insight in leveraging natural biomolecules for the manipulation and understanding of neuronal and brain function, which established and deployed the tools needed for optogenetics.
Karl Deisseroth, the D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, for establishing the modern field of optogenetics, for rendering the technique an invaluable tool for biological discovery, and for discovering along with Peter Hegemann the key principles of light-sensitive channel structure and function.
Peter Hegemann, the Hertie professor of Neuroscience at Humboldt University of Berlin, for his study of light-sensitive molecular channels in single-cell organisms--the key proteins that make optogenetic manipulation possible--and discovering along with Karl Deisseroth the key principles of light-sensitive channel structure and function.
Gero Miesenböck, the Waynflete Professor of Physiology and director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, for the first demonstrations of optogenetic control of neural activity and animal behavior and for discoveries proving the utility of optogenetics for neurobiological research
"The discoveries made by this year's four honorees have fundamentally changed the landscape of neuroscience," said George Q. Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School. "Their work has enabled scientists to see, understand and manipulate neurons, providing the foundation for understanding the ultimate enigma--the human brain."
The Warren Alpert Foundation Prize recognizes the work of scientists throughout the world. To date, the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize has awarded nearly $5 million to 69 scientists. Since the award's inception in 1987, 10 honorees have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize.
"The 2019 Warren Alpert Prize for medical research recognizes one of the transformative technical advances of the past decade. The ability to selectively turn on neuronal signals with light exposure has made achievable a more refined analysis of neural connections underlying behavior," said Joseph Martin, director and chai