Published: March 21, 2012

The Gairdner Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2012 Canada Gairdner Awards. Recognized for some of the most significant medical discoveries from around the world, this years winners showcase a broad range of new medical insights, from pioneering new ways to tackle childhood illness in developing countries to identifying how our biological clocks guide our everyday lives.

Among the worlds most esteemed medical research prizes, the awards distinguish Canada as a leader in science and provide a $100,000 prize to scientists whose work holds important potential. The 2012 winners are as follows:

Thomas M. Jessell, Ph.D.

Thomas M. Jessell, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY

The challenge: Through communication between the sensory neuron and the motor neuron in our bodies nervous system, we acquire the ability to move and react to the world around us. But little was known about how these neurons communicate with each other.

The work: Dr. Jessells work reveals the basic principles of nervous system communication. By studying the assembly and organization of the circuit that controls movement in the spinal cord nervous system, Dr. Jessell identified the direct connection between the sensory neuron, which is responsible for allowing us to process what is happening in the world around us, and the motor neuron, which allows us to control how our muscles move to react to what we sense in that world.

Why it matters: As a result of this discovery, we have the potential to create interventional strategies to treat and cure neurodegenerative diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), where a problem with the circuit connection between the sensory neuron and the motor neuron prevents our minds and bodies from reacting properly to what we sense around us. Similarly, we now have the potential to restore movement in patients with spinal cord injury or paralysis.

(To learn more about Dr. Jessell and his work, read The Promise of the Brain.)

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Thomas Jessell Receives 2012 Gairdner Award for Groundbreaking Insights on Nervous System