Professor Eric R Kandel with Dr Hugh Brady, President of UCD
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the understanding of memory, Nobel prize-winning scientist Professor Eric R Kandel has been awarded the UCD Ulysses Medal. “This award is in recognition of his outstanding contribution to neurobiology, an inspirational story to set our resolve as scientists and researchers”, said Dr Hugh Brady, the President of UCD, who presented the award.
Professor Kandel accepted the award in front of an audience of more than 250 people at UCD before delivering the plenary lecture at the UCD Conway Institute Festival of Research and Innovation on Friday 18 September 2009. His lecture entitled: The long and short of long-term memory, outlined his scientific work and discoveries which culminated in the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (jointly awarded to Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard).
“I think it is important to be bold, to tackle difficult problems, especially those that appear initially to be messy and unstructured. I think it is important to define a problem or a set of interrelated problems that has a long trajectory”, said Prof Kandel.
“We need to shift from studying elementary processes – single proteins, single genes, and single cells – to studying systems properties – mechanisms made up of many proteins, complex systems of nerve cells, the functioning of whole organisms, and the interaction of groups of organisms. Cellular and molecular approaches cannot by themselves unravel the secrets of internal representations in neural circuits or the interactions of circuits – the key steps linking cellular and molecular neuroscience to cognitive neuroscience.”
The UCD Ulysses Medal is the highest honour that UCD can bestow. It is awarded to individuals whose work has made an outstanding global contribution. Previous recipients of the UCD Ulysses Medal include: Irish playwright, Brian Friel; Irish poet, Thomas Kinsella; Nobel economist, Professor James J Heckman; Nobel laureate, Dr Phillip Sharp; founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab; Nobel laureate, Professor Richard Ernst; and US Philosopher, Professor Hilary
