Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience Recognizes Outstanding Contributions of Ricardo Miledi
SAN DIEGO — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) has awarded the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience to Ricardo Miledi, MD, of the University of California, Irvine and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. The prize was awarded during Neuroscience 2010, SfN’s annual meeting and the world’s largest source of emerging news on brain science and health.
The Gerard Prize was established in the name of Ralph W. Gerard, who was instrumental in establishing SfN and served as Honorary President from 1970 until his death in 1974. The prize, which is supported by Lilly USA, LLC, holds great prestige in the field of neuroscience and allows researchers to recognize the work of their peers.
“Dr. Miledi’s dedication and remarkable contributions to neuroscience represent some of the leading work in the field,” said Michael E. Goldberg, MD, president of SfN. “His novel work on the physiology of synapses has been instrumental in advancing the field.”
Ricardo Miledi’s impressive career has spanned more than 50 years. His discovery of the plasticity of neurotransmitter receptors in the nervous system was a key milestone in the field. Miledi’s work with nerve cell stimulation in frog muscles allowed him to understand how motor nerves control the chemical sensitivity of acetylcholine receptors at neuromuscular junctions. His research laid the ground work for future investigations of the synaptic functions underlying learning and memory.
Miledi completed his undergraduate training at the Instituto Cientifico y Literario in 1945 and later began his medical school training at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. He continues to be an active researcher, managing laboratories at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Queretaro and the University of California at Irvine.
The Society for Neuroscience is an organization of more than 40,000 researchers and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system.
