Albert Lasker
Basic Medical Research Award

Opening Remarks by the Jury Chairman

On July 17, 1990, President George Bush signed into law a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress, declaring the 1990s as "The Decade of the Brain." In his proclamation, President Bush called upon the scientific community, the general public, and the government to make research in neuroscience a top priority, with the expectation that new discoveries would lead ultimately to new treatments for brain disorders in patients.

The Decade of the Brain has delivered on its promise. Since 1990, 10,000 new scientists have joined the Society for Neuroscience, and the field has been revolutionized by advances in molecular biology, brain imaging, and drug development. But we shouldn't forget that the groundwork for these advances was laid in previous decades.

This year's Albert Lasker Awards in Medical Research honor four scientists for basic discoveries, spanning five decades, that changed the face of neuroscience. We also honor two scientists whose research, done two decades ago, led directly to the development of a new class of drugs that prevents our most common cause of brain disease—namely, strokes due to high blood pressure.

The Lasker Basic Science Award will be presented by Denis Baylor, Professor of Neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine and one of the world's leading neurophysiologists in the field of vision research. Denis developed an ingenious recording device for detecting the electrical signals that are generated when a single photon of light enters the eye from the outside world and impinges on a single photoreceptor cell in the retina. His research beautifully explains how the retina converts light energy into electrical signals, enabling the brain to see objects with different shapes, different colors, and different movements.

I will present the Lasker Clinical Science Award.

The Lasker Special Achievement in Medical Science Award will be presented by Eric Kandel, University Professor at Columbia University and Senior Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Eric is one of the world's most creative and influential scientists. For the past three decades, his laboratory has pioneered new experimental approaches for understanding the cellular and molecular basis of learning and memory. In 1983, Eric received the Lasker Basic Science Award, and in 1988 he was awarded the U.S. National Medal of Science by President Reagan.