A researcher from the Francis Crick Institute is one of three British neuroscientists who have jointly won the world's most valuable prize for brain research for their outstanding work on the mechanisms of memory.
Professor Tim Bliss, from the Crick's Mill Hill laboratory, and Professors Graham Collingridge (University of Bristol) and Richard Morris (University of Edinburgh) are this year's winners of The Brain Prize.
The Brain Prize, awarded by the Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation in Denmark, is worth one million Euros. Awarded annually, it recognises one or more scientists who have distinguished themselves by an outstanding contribution to neuroscience.
The research by Professors Bliss, Collingridge and Morris has focused on a brain mechanism known as 'Long-Term Potentiation' (LTP) which underpins the life-long plasticity of the brain. Their discoveries have revolutionised our understanding of how memories are formed, retained and lost.
The three neuroscientists have independently and collectively shown how the connections - the synapses - between brain cells in the hippocampus (a structure vital for the formation of new memories) can be strengthened through repeated stimulation. Long-Term Potentiation is so-called because it can persist indefinitely. Their work has revealed some of the basic mechanisms behind the phenomenon and has shown that LTP is the basis for our ability to learn and remember.
Without the capacity to store information in our brains, we could not remember our past and would be incapable of planning our future. Without memory, we could not recognise other people, find our way around in the world or make decisions based on past evidence. We could not learn language, ride a bicycle, drive a car, or use a smartphone. There could be no education, literature or art.
Responding to the news of the award, Tim Bliss, from the Crick, said, "I am of course delighted to be awarded a share of this prestigious prize. Research into LTP has been a wonderfully stimulating field to work in. Experimentally it can be studied at so many levels, from the molecular machinery that underpins it to the behaviours that depend on it. And from the beginning it has held up the promise of explaining the neural basis of memory."
Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, said: "I am delighted for Tim Bliss and his co-winners, Graham Collingridge and Richard Morris. The Brain Prize is one of the most prestigious honours in neuroscience and it is right that Tim has been recognised for his crucial contribution. Understanding how the brain works remains an extraordinary challenge. Tim's work, which was carried out at our Mill Hill laboratory when it was still the NIMR, one of the Crick's legacy institutes, is a major advance in our understanding of the difficult problem of memory. On behalf of everyone at the Francis Crick Institute, I offer him my heartfelt congratulations."
Professors Bliss, Collingridge and Morris will share the prize of one million Euros, which will be presented to them at a ceremony on 1 July in Copenhagen by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.
Watch the film below to find out more about the prize winners and their outstanding research.
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