Altimus Receives Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience
For immediate release.
ALTIMUS RECEIVES DONALD B. LINDSLEY PRIZE IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
Washington — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) has awarded the Donald B. Lindsley Prize to Cara M. Altimus, PhD, during Neuroscience 2011, SfN’s annual meeting and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. Supported by The Grass Foundation, the prize recognizes an outstanding PhD thesis in the area of general behavioral neuroscience. The award, which includes $2,500, was established in 1979 in honor of Donald B. Lindsley, PhD, who was an early trustee of The Grass Foundation.
“The Society is proud to recognize the novel insights of Dr. Altimus’s work,” said Susan G. Amara, PhD, president of SfN. “Her thesis on photoreceptive retinal ganglion cells and behavior demonstrates exceptional innovation in the field.”
Altimus, who completed her doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University, identified circuits between photoreceptors that contribute to vision and circadian rhythms. Her novel research also provided deeper insight into how intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, a recently discovered type of light sensitive neuron in the retina, can influence sleep, alertness, and cognitive abilities like learning and memory.
Altimus is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University.
The Society for Neuroscience is an organization of more than 41,000 researchers and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system.
