创新研究为索尔克科学家赢得尤里卡奖

2013年10月11日

创新研究为索尔克科学家赢得尤里卡奖

2013年10月11日

LA JOLLA, CA—The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected 阿克塞尔·尼默雅恩 for a highly competitive EUREKA (Exceptional Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant. Nimmerjahn is an Assistant Professor in the 韦特先进生物光子学中心 and holds the Richard Allan Barry Developmental Chair. The award, in the amount of $1.38M over four years, will support Nimmerjahn’s goal of better understanding the relationship between spinal cord physiology and brain activity and behavior. Data from this research should foster development of new treatment and rehabilitation strategies for spinal cord injury, tumors, infections, and neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular dystrophy.

The EUREKA program was conceived specifically to assist scientists such as Nimmerjahn to test new, innovative ideas or tackle major methodological or technical challenges. NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., says that, “EUREKA awards reflect the NIH’s continued commitment to funding transformative research, even if it carries more than the usual degree of scientific risk. The grants seek to elicit those ‘eureka moments’ when scientists make major theoretical or technical advances.” One of the technical advances included in Nimmerjahn’s study will be the development of new tools and approaches for minimally invasive optical recordings from spinal cord microcircuits during animal behavior and in previously inaccessible tissue regions. Currently, imaging in the spinal cord, the primary neurological link between the brain and other parts of the body, is limited to superficial dorsal regions in anesthetized animals. Anesthesia precludes animal behavior and alters cellular activity, limiting effective study of how cellular activity in the central nervous system (CNS) affects behavior. By developing new tools for study of cellular network activity in behaving mice he hopes to transform our understanding of CNS physiology and pathology.

Nimmerjahn is only the second scientist from Salk to be honored with this prestigious award. 弗雷德·盖奇, a Professor in the Institute’s Laboratory of Genetics, was the recipient of a EUREKA grant in 2009.

NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In developing the EUREKA program, the agency’s directors reasoned that, “For science to move forward in leaps rather than in incremental steps, scientists need opportunities to test unconventional ideas and to try novel methods for solving difficult technical and conceptual problems that stall a field’s progress.” The EUREKA awards “provide support for innovative, high-risk biomedical research initiatives with the potential for achieving significant health impact.”

关于索尔克生物研究所：
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is one of the world’s preeminent basic research institutions, where internationally renowned faculty probe fundamental life science questions in a unique, collaborative, and creative environment. Focused both on discovery and on mentoring future generations of researchers, Salk scientists make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of
cancer, aging, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and infectious diseases by studying neuroscience, genetics, cell and plant biology, and related disciplines.

学院取得了许多成就，获得了包括诺贝尔奖和美国国家科学院院士在内的无数荣誉。该研究所由脊髓灰质炎疫苗先驱 Jonas Salk 博士于 1960 年创立，是一家独立的非营利组织和建筑地标。.