Nas Award

 The NAS Award in the Neurosciences is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "in recognition of extraordinary achievements in the field of neuroscience that include neurochemistry, neurophysiologyand neuropharmacology and neuroanatomy, as well as developmental neuroscience as well as clinical and behavioral neuroscience." It was first awarded in 1988.For her body of work that has transformed the perception of neuronal circuits as static structures well-described by connectivity diagrams, to our current understanding of microcircuits as flexible and dynamic entities that efficiently balance the needs for plasticity and stability.For fundamental contributions to understanding the functional organization of the primate brain, including discovery of the visual functions of inferior temporal cortex, the role of the dorsal and ventral visual pathways in spatial and object processing, and anatomical descriptions of cognitive and non-cognitive memory systems.For the elucidation of fundamental mechanisms of chemical signaling, including opiate receptors, NO signaling, and other neurotransmitter/receptor interactions.For his seminal discoveries elucidating cellular and molecular bases for synaptic plasticity in the brain.For the pioneering discovery that fast-acting neurotransmitters mediate their effects through allosteric regulation of the neurotransmitter protein.