During the 2012 Chinese Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting on January 18, 2012, Research Group for Neural Development and Plasticity from ION was awarded the 2011 Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Diploma

The brain consists of billions of nerve cells, called neurons, which make specific connections (called synapses) among them to form many neural circuits to perform various brain functions, including processing, storage, and retrieval of information. Each neuron is a polarized cell. It sends out many highly arborized dendrites on one end for receiving input signals and a single long axon on the other end for delivery of output signals to distant target neurons. How does the neuron develop this polarize structure during early differentiation? How does the neuron find its appropriate place in the brain? How does the growing axon find its appropriate target cell to make synaptic connections (known as “synaptogenesis”)? How does the efficacy of synaptic transmission change upon repetitive use of the synapse (known as “synaptic plasticity”)? How does the synaptic plasticity provide the learning and memory capacity of the neural circuit? These outstanding questions remain to be answered in the field of neuroscience.

A group of ION investigators, including Drs. Mu-Ming Poo, Xiao-Bing Yuan, Zhen-Ge Luo, Ai-Ke Guo, Yi-Zheng Wang and Shu-Min Duan, has made important contributions in the past years to the field of neuroscience. They have developed novel experimental approaches at the cellular and molecular levels that allowed them to make new discoveries that offer insights into the cellular process of neuronal polarization, guidance of neuronal migration and axon pathfinding, synaptogenesis, synaptic plasticity and learning/memory mechanisms. These findings are published in top journals in biology and have attracted attention of the international neuroscience community.

Group photo (from left to right, Drs. Zhen-Ge Luo, Mu-Ming Poo, Shu-Min Duan, Ai-Ke Guo, Yi-Zheng Wang and Xiao-Bing Yuan)

The Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize was created in 2002 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in line with the special features of the state owned scientific research institutions with the reforms conducted in the national S & T awarding systems as the general background. The objectives of this prize are to stimulate the innovation spirit of the S & T workers and encourage them to make significant contributions in science and technology for the whole mankind. Chinese Academy of Sciences started to award this prize in 2003. This prize is for those individuals and/or groups who have made significant achievements in scientific and technological innovations during the last five years. It is assessed every 2 years without ranking. The total number of awards for each session shall be no more than ten; out of which, no more than three main contributors are allowed for each group award. The awardees shall be granted the certificate signed by the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prize Medals or Cups shall be granted to the awardees as well.