Professor Gero Miesenböck, DPAG's Waynflete Professor of Physiology and Director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, is one of two scientists to be awarded the 2023 Japan Prize "for their development of methods that use genetically addressable light-sensitive membrane proteins to unravel neural circuit function".
Head of Department Professor David Paterson said: "The Japan Prize is a major international prize that correctly recognises the outstanding discovery that Gero Miesenböck and Karl Deisseroth made in establishing a new methodology - optogenetics - using light sensitive protein to unravel neural circuits during complex physiological tasks. This has been one of the biggest advances made in neuroscience this century."
The Japan Prize in the field of Life Sciences rewards significant contributions to society through discoveries of new biological phenomena and elucidation of biological regulatory mechanisms as well as major advances in scientific technology that make possible deeper understanding of biological functions.