In February, the winners of the 2025 Rainwater Prize for Outstanding Innovation in Neurodegenerative Disease Research and Innovative Early Career Scientist will be announced, followed by an award ceremony at the 2025 Tau Global Conference, April 24-25^th in London, England. As we anticipate this announcement and celebration, we have been reflecting on the phenomenal neuroscience research and scientists recognized in 2024.

Rainwater Prize

In March 2024, The Rainwater Charitable Foundation awarded Virginia Man-Yee Lee, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, with the Outstanding Innovation in Neurodegenerative Disease Research prize, and Cristian Lasagna-Reeves, Indiana University School of Medicine, with the Innovative Early-Career Scientist prize. Dr. Lee received the honor for her career spanning multiple decades of discoveries that helped shape awareness and understanding of tau, a protein whose dysregulation is involved in multiple neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). Dr. Lasagna-Reeves was awarded his prize for his exceptional early achievements in neurodegenerative disease research, including findings suggesting that tau oligomers, rather than tau neurofibrillary tangles, are responsible for neurodegeneration in AD. 

Potamkin Prize

The Potamkin Prize recognizes the achievements of scientific researchers who advance the diagnosis, management, and search for a cure for Pick’s disease (a type of frontotemporal dementia), AD, and related brain degenerative diseases. The Potamkin Prize is sponsored by Potamkin Philanthropies, in partnership with the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American Brain Foundation (ABF). The 2024 Prize was awarded to the late Dr. Francisco Lopera Restrepo, the Founding Director of the Group of Neuroscience at the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia. Dr. Lopera was honored for his exceptional research focused on characterizing the genotypes and phenotypes of large Colombian families with AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Brain Prize

The Brain Prize is the world’s largest brain research prize and is awarded by the Lundbeck Foundation based in Denmark. The Brain Prize recognizes highly original and influential advances in brain research, and the 2024 Brain Prize was awarded to Larry Abbott from Columbia University, Terrence Sejnowski from the University of California, San Diego and the Salk Institute, and Haim Sompolinsky from Harvard University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for their work in computational and theoretical neuroscience. The winners’ research helped establish the foundation for brain-inspired artificial intelligence (AI) and contributed to understanding the brain’s structure, dynamics, and how cognition and behavior emerge.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for groundbreaking advancements in protein science, with significant implications for neurodegenerative research. David Baker was honored for his work in computationally designing new proteins. He shared this honor with Demis Hassabis, CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind, and John Jumper, a senior staff research scientist for DeepMind who were recognized for developing AI algorithms that accurately predict the 3D structure of proteins, known as AlphaFold. AlphaFold is an AI system that predicts the 3D structure of a protein from its amino acid sequence with unprecedented accuracy, revolutionizing the field of protein structure prediction. Together these breakthroughs enable researchers to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, accelerate drug discovery by enabling rapid screening of potential drug candidates, help identify novel drug targets for therapeutic intervention, and discover new approaches for early disease detection.

Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

The Breakthrough Prize annually recognizes top scientists for their research achievements in life sciences, fundamental physics, and mathematics. The 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences was awarded to Thomas Gasser from the University of Tubingen and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Ellen Sidransky from the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute, and Andrew Singleton from the NIH’s National Institute of Aging for their discovery of the most common genetic causes of Parkinson’s disease. Their work provides insights into the underlying mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets of the disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disease after AD.

Lasker Award

The Lasker Award was created in 1945 by Albert and Mary Lasker and is awarded by the Lasker Foundation. The goal of the award is to recognize advances that improve human health and has four categories including Medical Research, Clinical Medical Research, Special Achievement in Medical Research, and Public Service. The 2024 Lasker Basic Medical Research Award recognized the work of Zhijian “James” Chen from UT Southwestern Medical Center for his work to better understand how DNA stimulates inflammation through an enzyme, cGAS. The winner’s work, while predominantly studied in cancer and infectious disease response, is also important in tauopathies like Alzheimer’s disease as a driver of neuroinflammation. Importantly, cGAS enzymatic activity is a potential therapeutic target for several human diseases, including tauopathies.

We look forward to tracking the winners of these and other neuroscience-related prizes in the coming year. Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2025 Rainwater Prize winners on February 5th, and sign up for our newsletter to be the first to hear the news!