For Immediate Release “How Early Life Experience Shapes Function,” Takao Hensch, PhD, Wins Prestigious Prize for Research Examining Critical Periods in Brain Development http://sackler-institute-columbia.org/sackler-prize/

NEW YORK, NY (March 30, 2017) — College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medical College have announced that the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Psychobiology has been awarded to Takao K. Hensch, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School’s Boston Children’s Hospital, and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University’s Center for Brain Science. Applying cellular and molecular biology techniques to neural systems, Dr. Hensch’s work has identified pivotal inhibitory circuits that orchestrate structural and functional rewiring of connections in response to early sensory experience. His work affects not only the basic understanding of brain development, but also therapeutic approaches to devastating cognitive disorders later in life.

Dr. Hensch’s selection as this year’s Sackler Prize recipient is in recognition not only of his pioneering achievements in the understanding of early brain development, but also of his interdisciplinary leadership in research at the interface of neuroscience and cell biology.

“Dr. Hensch’s seminal research examining how plasticity can be modified has enormous potential for understanding normal human development and the possible amelioration of developmental disorders. He is a wonderful pick for the prize that commemorates Dr. Mortimer D. Sackler’s legacy and his passion for understanding the biological basis of neuropsychiatric disorders,” said Jay Gingrich, MD, PhD, director of the Columbia Sackler Institute and the Sackler Institute Professor of Developmental Psychobiology at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

“I am thrilled about this year’s recipient of the prize. Dr. Hensch has provided new insights into early brain development that have important implications for neurodevelopmental disorders, through his elegant and groundbreaking work into the mechanisms underlying critical periods of brain development. This interdisciplinary approach to bridging disparate scientific views— with unusual harmony—is a philosophy shared across the Sackler Institutes, as part of Dr. Sackler‘s vision,” said Francis Lee, MD, PhD, interim director of the Sackler Institute and the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Professor of Molecular Biology in Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College.

The Sackler Prize is selected by a committee of 15, including faculty from each of the six Sackler Institutes, programs, and centers: Weill Cornell Medical College; Columbia University Medical Center; Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow; University of Sussex; King’s College London; and McGill University. Dr. Hensch will hold grand rounds at Columbia and Weill Cornell on Wednesday, April 12th. Dr. Hensch said, “I am overwhelmed and deeply grateful for this unexpected honor. It is very inspiring that our fundamental research into the biological basis of critical periods might impact new thinking about the human condition.”

Asked about the current direction of his research, Dr. Hensch noted that, “Our work has established what might trigger and terminate early windows of brain plasticity. We are actively pursuing the generalizability of these principles across brain regions beyond sensory systems to include multisensory integration, attention, preference behaviors, language and cognition. Concepts such as the dynamic excitatory-inhibitory circuit balance which enables plastic change, and brake-like factors that limit it later, offer new insight into the etiology of mental disorders, such as autism and psychosis. Innovative translation to correct, avoid or reverse developmental mistiming is a major focus of our work at Harvard and Boston Children’s Hospital.”

“The Sackler Prize will spur our efforts toward identifying higher order critical periods from the bottom-up, and allow us to engage more with colleagues who address similar issues from the top-down in human subjects. Together, we can better bridge the gene-cognition gap through shared metrics and a rigorous understanding of local circuit development.”

After undergraduate studies with Dr. J Allan Hobson at Harvard, Dr. Hensch was a student of Dr. Masao Ito at the University Tokyo (MPH) and Fulbright fellow with Dr. Wolf Singer at the Max- Planck Institute for Brain Research, prior to receiving a Ph.D. in Neuroscience working with Dr. Michael Stryker at the University of California San Francisco in 1996. He then helped to launch the RIKEN Brain Science Institute as lab head for Neuronal Circuit Development and served as Group Director (and now special advisor) before returning to the United States in 2006. Dr. Hensch has received several honors, including the Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award both in Japan (2001 Tsukahara Prize) and the US (2005) as well as an NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2007). He is Chief Editor of Frontiers in Neural Circuits and serves on various editorial boards, including Neural Development and . He currently directs the NIMH Silvio O. Conte Center for Basic Mental Health Research at Harvard.

The Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Psychobiology The Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Psychobiology recognizes researchers who have advanced our understanding of the developmental processes of mind, brain, and behavior that contribute to normal development and of the origins of mental illness. The prize aims to foster international cooperation among scientists and promote public understanding of their work. The prize is presented jointly every two years by the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College. The first prize was awarded in 2008 to Dr. Avshalom Caspi of King's College, London, and Duke University. Dr. Fernando Nottebohm of the Rockefeller University received the prize in 2010, Dr. Carla Shatz of Stanford University received the prize in 2012, and Dr. Huda Zoghbi at the Baylor College of Medicine was the 2014 prize recipient.

The prize honors one of the most creative scientists in the field of developmental psychobiology, the late Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D., who began his career as a psychiatrist and pioneer researcher in biological psychiatry in the late 1940s at the New York State Department of Mental Health. During this early period, he published more than 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals, which highlighted the role of early childhood development in later psychiatric illness. In the early 1950s, Dr. Sackler, with his brothers, founded the pharmaceutical company known today as Purdue Pharma. The original prize was a gift in honor of Dr. Sackler’s 90th birthday from his seven children, and the prize was endowed in 2009 by a gift from The Mortimer D. Sackler Foundation, Inc.

The Sackler Institutes at Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College The Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology was endowed and established at Columbia University Medical Center in 2000 by the Sackler Foundation–La Fondation Sackler and is dedicated to research into the complex processes underlying normal development as well as the origins of psychiatric illness, working at levels ranging from the molecular to the psychological.

The Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, established and endowed in 1996 by the Sackler Foundation–La Fondation Sackler and Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D., family members and related entities, is focused on research and training using state-of-the-art brain-imaging techniques, human and mouse genetics, and novel behavioral methods to study typical and atypical human brain development.

Columbia University Medical Center Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the MD degree and is among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest in the United States. Its physicians treat patients at multiple locations throughout the tri-state area, including the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia campus in Washington Heights, the new ColumbiaDoctors Midtown location at 51 W. 51st St. in Manhattan, and the new ColumbiaDoctors Riverdale practice. For more information, visit www.cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org. Weill Cornell Medical College Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with Houston Methodist. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.

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