Jean-Pierre Changeux, winner of the Olav Thon Foundation's 2016 international research award

Jean-Pierre Changeux, Honorary Professor at the Institut Pasteur and the Collège de France, was given the prestigious 2016 international research award by Norway's largest private foundation, the Olav Thon Foundation.

This prize, which is awarded to a researcher in the fields of medicine and natural sciences, was given to Jean-Pierre Changeux for his pioneering work in the fields of molecular biology and brain research.

The Olav Thon Foundation paid tribute to the scientific impact of Jean-Pierre Changeux's discoveries which led to the emergence of new scientific concepts in different scientific disciplines. The prize also recognized Jean-Pierre Changeux's ability to link a deep understanding of molecules and their regulation to new insight into the function and diseases of the brain. Changeux's research findings are central to our understanding of the formation of synapses and the plasticity of the synapses, particularly during the aging process. At the same time, the findings shed new light on crucial factors associated with child development. The Foundation also underlined the many clinical trials based on Jean-Pierre Changeux's research that are now underway with nicotine-based drugs for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression and schizophrenia.

Changeux is already the winner of many awards and prizes including the CNRS Gold Medal, Balzan Prize and Louis Jeantet Prize. This latest award honors a true pioneer of the neurosciences and an outstanding Institut Pasteur scientist.