About the Award
The Richard Lounsbery Award is a $75,000 prize given in alternate years by the National Academy of Sciences and the French Académie des Sciences, to young (no older than 45) French and American scientists to recognize extraordinary scientific achievement in biology and medicine. In addition to honoring scientific excellence, the award is intended to stimulate research and encourage reciprocal scientific exchanges between the United States and France.
Michael M. Yartsev, University of California, Berkeley and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will receive the 2025 Richard Lounsbery Award.
Yartsev has made pivotal contributions to advance our understanding of the neural basis of natural behaviors.
Yartsev investigates the neural mechanisms that can support complex and ethologically relevant forms of spatial, social, and acoustic behaviors in mammals. He has developed cutting-edge technologies that enable studying the brain activity in freely behaving and flying bats, including both individuals and groups, at unprecedented levels of detail.
Using these novel techniques and tools, Yartsev examines bats’ natural ability to form new spatial memories and execute complex forms of navigation with extreme precision. Yartsev and his team also study how bats interact and communicate with one another in social groups, providing unique insights into the neurobiology of social memory and communication as the underpinnings of group social behavior.
Yartsev will be honored in a ceremony on Sunday, April 27 during the National Academy of Sciences’ 162nd annual meeting. The ceremony will be livestreamed.
Award Lecture Series
Jay Shendure, 2019 Richard Lounsbery Award recipient, will present the 2025 Lounsbery Lecutre on “Reconstructing Mammalian Development” at Stanford University on April 30 at 4:00pm Eastern. During his talk, Shendure will describe his ongoing efforts to develop and apply technologies aimed at the global, systematic reconstruction of mammalian development, in both in vitro and in vivo settings. This lecture is open to the public.
Feng Zhang, 2021 Richard Lounsbery Award recipient, presented the 2024 Lounsbery Lecture on “Exploration of Biological Diversity” at the Museum of Science on Tuesday, November 19 at 6:30 pm Eastern.
Many powerful molecular biology tools have their origin in nature, and, often, microbial life. From restriction enzymes to CRISPR-Cas9, microbes utilize a diverse array of systems to get ahead evolutionarily. We are interested in exploring this natural diversity through bioinformatics, biochemical, and molecular work to better understand the fundamental ways in which living organisms sense and respond to their environment and ultimately to harness these systems to improve human health.
Michelle Monje, 2023 Richard Lounsbery Award recipient, presented a 2024 Lounsbery Lecture on “Neuron-glial Interactions in Health and Disease: From Cognition to Cancer” at Vassar College on October 24 at 5:00pm Eastern.
Pardis Christine Sabeti, 2017 Richard Lounsbery Award recipient, presented the 2018 Lounsbery Lecture on “Genomic Surveillance and Response System for Infectious Disease Outbreaks” at University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Hopi Hoekstra, 2015 Richard Lounsbery Award recipient, presented the 2015 Lounsbery Lecture on “Digging for Genes That Affect Mammalian Behavior” at Smith College.
Award History
The Richard Lounsbery Award was established by Vera Lounsbery in honor of her husband, Richard Lounsbery, and is supported by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.
First awarded in 1979 to Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein for their work in cholesterol biosynthesis, the Richard Lounsbery Award has been at the forefront of recognizing some of the most significant discoveries in the biomedical sciences by leading U.S. and French researchers.
Previous recipients of the Richard Lounsbery Award continue to achieve outstanding advancements in their fields. Six recipients have been honored with a National Medal of Science, nine recipients have received a Lasker Award, and nine recipients have received a Nobel Prize in Medicine (Goldstein 1985; Brown 1985; Blobel 1999; Gilman 1994; Rodbell 1994; Axel 2004; Prusiner 1997; Rothman 2013; Greider 2009).
The prize is given in alternate years by the National Academy of Sciences and the French Académie des Sciences. The Académie des sciences provides a framework for expertise, advice and warning through opinions and recommendations for public policy. It supports research, science teaching and scientific life as a whole. Its reports give everyone the means they need to understand the scientific debate, and help to shed light on the issues facing society. Since its creation in 1666, the Académie has been involved in reflection on the political, ethical and societal issues raised by scientific questions. The Académie contributes to the dissemination of knowledge. Involved in societal debates, it contributes to education and promotes scientific culture. To meet these challenges, most of which are global in scope, the Académie contributes to the internationalization of science.
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