Rumford Prize Awarded to Peter Hegemann

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences awards the Rumford Prize to Peter Hegemann, Ernst Bamberg, Ed Boyden, Karl Deisseroth, Gero Miesenböck and Georg Nagel for the invention and refinement of optogenetics. The Rumford Prize was presented during the Academy’s Annual Awards Ceremony on April 11, 2019, at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is one of the oldest scientific prizes in the United States founded in 1796.

Named “Breakthrough of the Decade” in 2010 by the journal Science, the field of optogenetics has furthered the fundamental scientific understanding of how specific cell types contribute to the function of biological tissues. On the clinical side, optogenetics-driven research has led to insights into Parkinson’s disease and other neurological and psychiatric disorders, as well as autism, schizophrenia, drug abuse, anxiety, and depression.

Source: American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Peter Hegemann
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin Institute of Biology, Experimental Biophysics
Exzellenzcluster NeuroCure
E-Mail: Hegemann[at]rz.hu-berlin.de