The Rockefeller University to honor pioneering memory researcher with Pearl Meister Greengard Prize

$100,000 prize honors female scientists who have made extraordinary contributions to biomedical science

Brenda Milner, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of cognitive neuroscience whose discoveries revolutionized the understanding of memory, will be awarded the 2011 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from The Rockefeller University. The prize, which honors female scientists who have made extraordinary contributions to biomedical science and carries an honorarium of $100,000, will be presented at a ceremony on Thursday, November 3rd at Rockefeller University's Caspary Auditorium.

The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize was established by Paul Greengard, Ph.D., Vincent Astor Professor at Rockefeller University and head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, and his wife, sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard. Dr. Greengard donated the proceeds of his 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Rockefeller University and, in partnership with generous supporters of the university, created the annual award named in memory of Greengard's mother, who died giving birth to him. Since 2004, the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize has recognized female scientists who have made exceptional contributions to biomedical science, a group that historically has not received appropriate recognition and acclaim.

"Brenda Milner is a great neuroscientist, and the founder of the field of neuropsychology. By virtue of her stature as a preeminent scientist, she has greatly advanced efforts to achieve acceptance and respect for women in science," said Dr. Greengard.

"I am absolutely delighted and amazed to receive this special award and so proud and honored to be representing women scientists in this context. I am very privileged for having been able to pursue my sense of curiosity within the culture of excellence at the Montreal Neurological Institute, as well as to train and encourage talented young students - driving forces throughout my career to which I attribute much of my success," said Dr. Milner.

Dr. Milner is the Dorothy J. Killam Professor at McGill University's Montreal Neurological Institute and professor in the department of neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University. She has spent her career unraveling the mysteries of the brain, and she has been credited by Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel with merging the fields of psychology and neurobiology to create the field of cognitive neuroscience.

Dr. Milner's seminal research has provided many landmark discoveries in the study of human memory and the brain's temporal lobes, which play a key role in emotional responses, hearing, memory and speech.

She was chosen as the 2011 recipient of the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize by the selection committee of ten jurors, of which five are Nobel Laureates. The members of the selection committee are: Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Ph.D., president of Rockefeller University; Torsten N. Wiesel, M.D., chair and Nobel Laureate; Richard Axel, M.D., Nobel Laureate; Cori Bargmann, Ph.D.; Gunter Blobel, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate; Titia de Lange, Ph.D.; Joseph L. Goldstein, M.D., Nobel Laureate; Philippa Marrack, Ph.D., 2005 recipient of the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize; Paul Nurse, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate; and David D. Sabatini, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Milner began her career studying experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge, where she received a bachelor's degree in 1939. She then began studies for a master's degree at Cambridge, but soon joined a team interested in distinguishing fighter pilots from bomber pilots in aptitude tests at the beginning of the Second World War. She moved to Canada in 1944 to take an academic position at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Montreal.

In 1950, she began doctoral studies with Donald Hebb, Ph.D. in the department of psychology at McGill University and pursued her research at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) at McGill University and worked closely with MNI founder Dr. Wilder Penfield, who was developing a surgical technique to relieve epileptic seizures that entailed removal of one part of the temporal lobe. For her doctoral research, Dr. Milner studied and tested Dr. Penfield's patients before and after surgery. She found mild deficits in certain visual perceptual tasks, particularly in patients who had surgery on the right temporal lobe.

However, some of these patients, especially those with lesions on the left temporal lobe, complained of memory problems. She decided to change the course of her research and focus on memory.

In 1955, Dr. Milner's work attracted the attention of a Connecticut neurosurgeon, Dr. William Scoville, whose patient, known by his initials H.M., suffered severe memory loss after having parts of the temporal lobe on both sides of his brain removed to treat severe epilepsy. The surgery rendered H.M. unable to form any new memories, although his personality was unchanged and he retained all memories of what happened in his life before the operation.

Dr. Milner spent the next few years studying H.M., giving him a series of learning tests. H.M. failed most of them, with the exception of the mirror drawing test, which involves drawing a figure reflected in a mirror. H.M. mastered this motor learning task, which enabled Dr. Milner to show that the human brain has more than one memory system.

Dr. Milner later studied patients with damage to the brain's frontal lobe, and found that this type of injury impairs a person's ability to adapt to change. This discovery flew in the face of conventional wisdom at the time, which downplayed the importance of this brain region.

Dr. Milner's research has also shed light on how the right and left hemispheres of the brain complement each other. When Dr. Milner began her research career, the brain's right hemisphere was viewed as relatively unimportant. Her methodical testing of patients revealed unique functions of the brain's right hemisphere. Her research today continues to focus on the interaction between the brain's hemispheres, and she has begun to use functional imaging in human subjects to explore this interaction.

Source: The Rockefeller University