New $100,000 Prize in Integrative Neuroscience Honors Peter Seeburg
Image: File: Peter Seeburg in the ZMBH years, taken in 1993.jpg" by William Wisden is licensed under CC BY 4.0
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) has been awarded a new endowment to establish the Peter Seeburg Integrative Neuroscience Prize, an annual award with a $100,000 cash prize. Funded by the Schaller-Nikolich Foundation, the Prize honors German neuroscientist Peter H. Seeburg, a pioneer in molecular neurobiology. The endowment donation represents the largest single gift to SfN in its history.
“Dr. Peter Seeburg laid the foundations of molecular and systems neuroscience; he was a prominent and highly cited author in the field, and a close colleague and friend,” said Dr. Karoly Nikolich, Managing Director of the Schaller-Nikolich Foundation. “We are delighted to help establish this new prize to honor his work and legacy.”
Reflecting the international nature of Peter Seeburg’s scientific achievements, the award presentation will alternate between the SfN annual meeting and the FENS Forum, starting at the 2021 SfN annual meeting in Chicago. Recipients will receive a $100,000 prize and complimentary registration, transportation, and hotel accommodation at the respective meeting.
The prize will recognize outstanding advances in the understanding of executive brain functions and cognitive processes. While the ultimate goal is to understand how the brain works, Peter Seeburg appreciated that complex questions often must be broken down in order to become accessible to experimental scrutiny. Nominees will therefore be expected to have successfully embedded molecular and cellular mechanisms in a circuit and systems context to make significant advances in explaining cognitive and behavioral processes such as emotion, learning, memory, attention, and decision-making.
“We are grateful to the Schaller-Nikolich Foundation for providing the resources to make the Peter H. Seeburg Prize a reality in perpetuity,” said Barry Everitt, SfN president. “The Prize’s important scientific focus will quickly make it a highly competitive award in neuroscience. The collaboration between SfN and FENS in the selection and presentation of the prize is a fitting tribute to Seeburg’s distinguished career in the U.S. and Europe, and an outstanding example of the strong and effective partnership between the organizations.”
SfN will manage the nomination and selection process under its existing structure for named awards and prizes, collaborating with FENS on award promotion, selection committee, and presentation of the award. SfN and FENS will each nominate members of the selection committee.
