Samuel Weiss

Life

White acquired in 1978 at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, a Bachelor's in Biochemistry and in 1983 at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Canada, a Ph.D. in neurobiology. As a postdoctoral fellow he worked at the Centre de Pharmacologie - Endocrinologie, a facility of the CNRS and INSERM, Montpellier, France, and the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. In 1988 he received a professorship ( Assistant Professor ) at the University of Calgary, where he (as of 2011 ) is Professor of Cell Biology and Pharmacology today.

Work

Weiss discovered in 1985 with Fritz Sladeczek the metabotropic glutamate receptor, which has been an important target of pharmacological research for the development of agents for the treatment of various neurological disorders. 1992 Weiss discovered in the brains of adult mammals stem cells ( neural stem cells ). This discovery was the basis for new approaches to the treatment of various neurological diseases and injuries of the central nervous system.

Recent work dealing with cellular and molecular biology of neural progenitor cells (see neurogenesis ). He explored using animal models of brain and spinal cord injury, the regulation of neural stem cells and their role in the function recovery. In addition, Weiss looks at the role of new neurons in the formation of a " social memory " in experimental animals ( social memory) and the autocrine regulation of the growth of tumor stem cells of human brain tumors.

Awards (selection)

  • 2002 Neuronal Plasticity Prize
  • 2004 Canadian Federation of Biological Societies Presidents' Award in Life Sciences Research
  • 2008 Gairdner Foundation International Award
  • 2010 Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology ( CCNP ) Innovations in Neuropsychopharmacology Award
1955 Centre national de la recherche scientifique Burlington (Vermont)
704985
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