Sten Grillner is awarded the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience 2008
Sten Grillner at the Department of Neuroscience is awarded the prize in neuroscience together with Thomas Jessell, Columbia University, USA, and Pablo Rakic, Yale University School of Medicine, USA. The prizes will be presented to the Kavli Laureates by HRH Crown Prince Haakon at an award ceremony in Oslo Concert Hall on the 9th of September 2008.
In the motivation to awarding Sten Grillner the prize is stated that he has shown 'how neural circuits in mammalian spinal cords generate motor commands for rhythmic movements such as locomotion. His lamprey model is seen as the first and so far only vertebrate neuronal system controlling an integrated function that is understood at a molecular and cellular level'.
The Kavli Prize, named after the Norwegian-American Fred Kavli, will be awarded for the first time in 2008. It provides three international awards for outstanding contributions to the fields of nanoscience, neuroscience and astrophysics.
The Kavli Foundation has established these international awards to recognize seminal advances in scientific research in these three fields. Each prize will consist of a scroll, a medal and a cash award of USD 1 million.