Boehringer Ingelheim FENS Research Award presented for the first time

Ingelheim, Germany, 16 July 2002 – The new Boehringer Ingelheim FENS Research Award was awarded for the first time at this year’s congress of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) held at the Palais des Congrès in Paris from 13 to 17 July 2002. The prize, which consists of a sum of EUR 25,000 donated by Boehringer Ingelheim, is awarded to young scientists in Europe for outstanding work in the field of neuroscience research. “We are proud of our new FENS Research Award and of the contribution we are making to the advancement of young scientists in Europe,” says Professor Dr. Bernd Wetzel, Head of worldwide Research and Non-clinical Development at Boehringer Ingelheim.

The Boehringer Ingelheim FENS Research Award 2002, which consists of both a certificate and prize money, was given to the 37-year-old Dr Stanislas Dehaene for his outstanding experimental observations of the cerebral basis of the higher cognitive functions of the human brain. “I am delighted to receive this award,” said Dr. Dehaene, who currently heads the Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit at INSERM in the Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot in Orsay, France. “The results of my research will help researchers worldwide understand the nature of the brain mechanisms for language and arithmetic. Understanding how those mechanisms can fail should then enable us to better forms of rehabilitation – especially for children,” he added.

The prize was presented by Professor Dr. Dieter Hinzen, Head of Boehringer Ingelheim’s largest research and development centre in Biberach an der Riss in Germany: “This prize symbolises Boehringer Ingelheim’s commitment to central nervous system research. It emphasises our support for basic research in neurosciences, leading to scientific advances and the development of innovative forms of therapy,” Professor Dieter Hinzen said. The speech in Dr. Dehaene’s honour was delivered by Professor GaetanoDi Chiara, President of the Federation of European NeuroscienceSocieties (FENS).

Dr. Stanislas Dehaene’s pioneering research has been advancing our understanding of the cerebral processes underlying our handling of numbers and speech for some 15 years. His use of modern imaging techniques enables us to observe what happens in various parts of the brain while complex cognitive problems are being solved. Some experiments of a similar nature have been performed on animals.

Dr Stanislas Dehaene recently used these brain imaging techniques to show that approximations of numbers are handled in a different cerebraltract from that used for exact calculations. The results obtained in this area together with his wife Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz, resulted in a pioneering article on language development in children.

The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS)
The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) is an organisation of all national neuroscience societies and many other societies in the field of neuroscience in Europe. FENS was established to advance research and education in the field of neuroscience. Since the first FENS Forum in Berlin in 1998 with 4,000 delegates, the attendance of the FENS Forum Meetings has been steadily growing, withover 5,500 delegates in Brighton in June 2000, and even more participants are expected in Paris. This is a clear indication that the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies has succeeded in its mainendeavour to bring European and non-European scientists together. For more information on FENS, please see the Internet website www.fens.org

Boehringer Ingelheim
The Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies, headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, is one of the 20 leading pharmaceutical corporations in the world. In 2001, it posted revenues of EUR 6.7 billion. Boehringer Ingelheim, which has some 140 affiliated companies in 42 countries worldwide, focuses on human pharmaceuticals and animal health. The human pharmaceuticals business, which accounts for 95% of sales, is comprised of prescription medicines, consumer health care products, chemicals and biopharmaceuticals for industrial customers. Research and development, production and distribution facilities are located around the globe. In 2001, Boehringer Ingelheim’s R&D spending was more than EUR 1 billion, which is almost a fifth of its net sales of prescription medicines.

Related links:  FENS website