Since 2009 the ERA-NET NEURON launches annual calls for an "EXCELLENT PAPER IN NEUROSCIENCE AWARD". As Dr. Marlies Dorlöchter, the coordinator of NEURON, pointed out:"This young scientist supportive measure adds very well to the research funding activities of our network". The EXCELLENT PAPER IN NEUROSCIENCE AWARD emphasizes the importance of research into brain function and its diseases and will contribute to integrate the neuroscience research community. The award is designed as a form of support and encouragement for young researchers at the early stage of their career.
The award honors the first authorship of a researcher under 35 years of age in a high impact journal within the first five years after dissertation. It is "Highly ambitious and rewarding the scientific efforts of particularly young scientists" says Dr. Erkki Raulo, the Finnish initiator of the NEURON award programme. The winner(s) are invited as special ERA-NET NEURON Young Investigator lecturers in an international conference. A special cooperation of Dr. Raulo with Dr. Jean-Pierre Hornung, Chair of the NENS Committee (Network of European Neuroscience Schools within the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies, FENS), gave the awardees the opportunity to present their work at the renowned FENS Forum 2012 in Barcelona.
From left to right: Dr. Jean-Pierre Hornung, Dr. Marlies Dorlöchter, Dr. Fernando Kasanetz,
Dr. Fanie Barnabé-Heider, Dr. Erkki Raulo.
Over 200 attendees witnessed the award ceremony when Dr. Fanie Barnabé-Heider (Karolinska Institut, Stockholm, Sweden) detailed on the ‘Origin of new glial cells in intact and injured adult spinal cord’, offering new approaches for research on spinal cord injury. "I am so happy to get this award. A friend alerted me of this opportunity and I submitted my application online 10 minutes before the deadline" smiles Dr. Barnabé-Heider.
The award is indeed a relatively recent honor on the science market reckons Dr. Kasanetz "I was encouraged by my research director to submit the application". Dr.Véronique Deroche (INSERM, Bordeaux; France) had participated in a scientific NEURON workshop on "Mental illness and neural dysfunction" that was held in May 2009 in Paris and thus knew the ERA-NET.
Dr. Kasanetz (Neurocenter Magendie in Bordeaux) provided with his talk most interesting insights into the ‘Synaptic plasticity associated with the transition to cocaine addiction’ [pdf, 10,3 MB] an important subject in the brain research area.
The ERA-NET NEURON is a network of European funding for neuroscience research and has been set up to link 21 European national research funding agencies and ministries in order to jointly support research in the field of disease-related neurosciences.
