The Brain Prize, formerly known as The Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize, is an international scientific award honouring "one or more scientists who have distinguished themselves by an outstanding contribution to neuroscience and who are still active in research". Founded in 2011 by the Lundbeck Foundation, the prize is associated with a DKK 10 million award to the nominees, the world’s largest brain research prize.
Nominees can be of any nationality. Prize winners are expected to interact with Danish brain researchers e.g. through lectures, master classes, seminars, exchange programmes for researchers or other activities agreed with and financially supported by the Lundbeck Foundation.
History The Brain Prize was established by the Lundbeck Foundation in 2010 as a European prize and was awarded for the first time in 2011. Today the Prize is global.
Selection committee As of 2024, the selection committee for the prize consisted of: Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg (chair) - Germany Carmen Sandi (vice chair) - Switzerland Eunjoon Kim - Korea Gina Turrigiano - USA Katrin Amunts - Germany Ole Kiehn - Denmark Ole Petter Ottersen - Norway Pamela Shaw - United Kingdom Sabine Kastner - USA Samuel Berkovic - Australia
Laureates Source: Lundbeck Foundation Year Laureates Country Citation2011Péter Somogyi / ”For their wide-ranging, technically and conceptually brilliant research on the functional organization of neuronal circuits in the cerebral cortex, especially in the hippo¬campus, a region that is crucial for certain forms of memory"Tamás FreundGyörgy Buzsáki / 2012Christine Petit"For their unique, world-leading contributions to our understanding of the genetic regulation of the development and functioning of the ear, and for elucidating the causes of many of the hundreds of inherited forms of deafness"Karen Steel2013Ernst Bamberg"For their invention and refinement of optogenetics. This revolutionary technique allows genetically specified populations of neurons to be turned on or off with light, offering not only the ability to elucidate the characteristics of normal and abnormal neural circuitry but also new approaches to treatment of brain disorders"Edward BoydenKarl DeisserothPeter HegemannGero MiesenböckGeorg Nagel2014Giacomo Rizzolatti"For their pioneering research on higher brain mechanisms underpinning such complex human functions as literacy, numeracy, motivated behaviour and social cognition, and for their efforts to understand cognitive and behavioural disorders"Stanislas DehaeneTrevor W. Robbins 2015Winfried Denk"For invention, refinement and use of two-photon microscopy to provide detailed, dynamic images of activity in individual nerve cells, dendrites and synapses, thereby transforming the study of development, plasticity and functional circuitry of the brain"Arthur KonnerthKarel SvobodaDavid W. Tank 2016Timothy Bliss"For their ground-breaking research on the cellular and molecular basis of Long-Term Potentiation and the demonstration that this form of synaptic plasticity underpins spatial memory and learning"Graham CollingridgeRichard G. Morris2017Wolfram Schultz"For their multidisciplinary analysis of brain mechanisms that link learning to reward, which has far-reaching implications for the understanding of human behaviour, including disorders of decision-making in conditions such as gambling, drug addiction, compulsive behaviour and schizophrenia"Peter DayanRay Dolan2018Bart De Strooper"For their groundbreaking research on the genetic and molecular basis of Alzheimer’s disease, with far-reaching implications for the development of new therapeutic interventions as well as for the understanding of other neurodegenerative diseases of the brain'"Michel GoedertChristian HaassJohn Hardy2019Marie-Germaine Bousser"for more than 30 years spent describing, understanding and diagnosing the most common inherited form of stroke, CADASIL"Hugues ChabriatAnne JoutelElisabeth Tournier-Lasserve2020Sir Adrian Bird"for their fundamental and pioneering work on Rett syndrome."Huda Zoghbi / 2021Lars Edvinsson"for their groundbreaking work on the causes and treatment of migraine"Peter Goadsby / Michael A. MoskowitzJes Olesen2022Silvia Arber"for having revolutionized our understanding of the neuronal cell types and circuits underlying movement."Ole KiehnMartyn Goulding / 2023Michael E. Greenberg"for having revolutionized our understanding of how neurons regulate the thousands of different proteins – the building blocks of life, that are needed to support brain development, plasticity and maintenance." Laureates 2023Christine HoltErin Schuman2024Larry Abbott"to have made pioneering contributions to the field of computational and theoretical neuroscience and have made seminal contributions to our understanding of the principles that govern the brain’s structure, dynamics and the emergence of cognition and behaviour."Terrence SejnowskiHaim Sompolinsky2025Michelle Monje"for pioneering the field of Cancer Neuroscience."Brain Prize 2025Frank Winkler2026Patrik Ernfors"for pioneering work on the cellular architecture of somatosensation, revealing how the nervous system detects and processes stimuli such as touch and pain."Brain Prize 2026David Ginty
See also The Kavli Prize Golden Brain Award Gruber Prize in Neuroscience W. Alden Spencer Award Karl Spencer Lashley Award The Mind & Brain Prize Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience List of neuroscience awards List of psychology awards
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