Thomas Südhof wins 2010 Kavli Prize

THOMAS SÜDHOF, a Stanford neuroscientist renowned for his investigations into how nerve cells in the brain communicate, has been named a recipient of the 2010 Kavli Prize. He will share one of three $1 million awards given for achievements in neuroscience, nanoscience and astrophysics funded by the Oxnard, Calif.-based Kavli Foundation, established in 2000 by Fred Kavli, a Norwegian-born physicist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Winners are picked by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and Norway’s Ministry of Education and Research in partnership with the Kavli Foundation, after consultation with leading scientists in each field.

Südhof, a professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will split the $1 million proceeds with two other neuroscientists: RICHARD SCHELLER, who held Stanford faculty positions in the 1980s and is now a research executive at the biotechnology company Genentech, and JAMES ROTHMAN of Yale University.

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—Bruce Goldman