April 19, 2012
Dr. Roger Nicoll of the University of California, San Francisco was awarded the 2012 Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience for his pioneering work on synaptic plasticity, the process by which the brain's connections are modified in response to experience (click here to read the full announcement). On April 19, 2012, he delivered the Scolnick Prize lecture, entitled "Deconstructing and reconstructing an excitatory synapse."

The Scolnick Prize is awarded annually by the McGovern Institute to recognize outstanding advances in the field of neuroscience. The prize is named in honor of Dr. Edward M. Scolnick, who stepped down as President of Merck Research Laboratories in December 2002 after holding Merck's top research post for 17 years. Dr Scolnick is now at the Broad Institute, where he established the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research. He also serves as a member of the McGovern Institute’s governing board. The prize, which is endowed through a gift from Merck to the McGovern Institute, consists of a $70,000 award, plus an inscribed gift.

The winner is selected by a committee appointed by the director of the McGovern Institute. The current members are: Robert Desimone (McGovern Institute; chair); Joseph Coyle (McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School), H. Robert Horvitz (McGovern Institute); Nancy Kanwisher (McGovern Institute); Solomon Snyder (Johns Hopkins University); and Larry Squire (University of California, San Diego).

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McGovern Institute for Brain Research

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MIT TechTV