Brain Research Pioneers Honored

Three pioneers in neurotransmission to be honored

Three scientists who have been pioneers in neurotransmission and neurodegeneration will be honored with the 2014 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize at a symposium at Harvard Medical School on Oct. 2.

The recipients are Solomon H. Snyder of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Roger A. Nicoll of the University of California in San Francisco School of Medicine and Oleh Hornykiewicz of the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Toronto.

The recipients will be awarded a shared, unrestricted $250,000 prize at a symposium at Harvard Medical School’s New Research Building, at 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, in the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center on Thursday, October 2, 2014, from 2:00-5:30 p.m.

The symposium, Neurotransmission in Health and Disease, will feature remarks and reflections from the three awardees and will include words from invited speakers:

  • John Williams, senior scientist of Vollum Institute at Oregon Health & Science University
  • Anatol Kreitzer, associate investigator of Gladstone Institutes and associate professor of physiology and neurology at the University of California, San Francisco
  • Beth Stevens, assistant professor at F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School

The Alpert Prize, which was named after philanthropist and entrepreneur Warren Alpert, selects recipients based on their research contributions to finding preventions, cures or treatments for human diseases or disorders that have a lasting impact and ultimately change how a particular disease is understood or treated. Snyder, Nicoll and Hornykiewicz will join an esteemed group of 48 individuals, which includes seven Nobel Prize winners, who have received more than $3 million collectively from the prize, to date.

“This year we are honoring three great scientists who have transformed our understanding of the human brain,” said Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of the faculty of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Because of their creative and foundational work into the basic language of how neurons communicate, there are many people today whose lives have been enhanced.”

Photo courtesy of Johns Hopkins School of MedicineSolomon H. Snyder’s work has focused on studying the individual receptors and neurotransmitters that construct the synaptic dialogue and figuring out how they connect and are distributed throughout the nervous system. Snyder is responsible for developing the first methods of measuring these receptors biochemically by creating precise molecular methods that have led to the discovery of opiate receptors and their distribution in the brain. Drug companies around the world interested in psychotropics have used his methods.

Photo courtesy of University of California, San FranciscoRoger A. Nicoll’s career has concentrated on translating and understanding the language of neurons. Specifically, Nicoll focused on the back-and-forth passing of chemical and electrical signals that neurons use to communicate and studied how the signals modify the activity and behavior of the neurons themselves over time. He has described synaptic communication as a form of learning that underlies all aspects of human and animal capacity to acquire and store information.

Photo by Peter LacknerOleh Hornykiewicz began measuring the activity of catecholamines, including dopamine, in the brain early in his career. After creating methods that allowed him to measure concentrations in different areas of the brain, he found that dopamine was high in the basal ganglia, which is linked to Parkinson’s disease. Hornykiewicz found that the chemical levodopa alleviated symptoms in Parkinson’s patients when administered, and the chemical is still recognized today as the most efficacious first-line treatment for individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

The Warren Alpert Foundation

Each year the Warren Alpert Foundation (www.warrenalpert.org) receives 30 to 50 nominations for the Alpert Prize from scientific leaders worldwide. Prize recipients are selected by the foundation’s scientific advisory board, composed of distinguished biomedical scientists and chaired by the dean of Harvard Medical School.

Warren Alpert (1920-2007), a native of Chelsea, Mass., established the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize in 1987 after reading about the development of a vaccine for hepatitis B. Alpert decided on the spot that he would like to reward such breakthroughs, so he picked up the phone and told the vaccine’s creator, Kenneth Murray of the University of Edinburgh, that he had won a prize. Alpert then set about creating the foundation.

To award subsequent prizes, Alpert asked Daniel Tosteson (1925-2009), then dean of Harvard Medical School, to convene a panel of experts to identify scientists from around the world whose research has had a direct impact on the treatment of disease.

The Warren Alpert Foundation does not solicit funds. It is a private, philanthropic organization funded solely by The Warren Alpert Estate.