László Biró among the HUN-REN 2024 Róbert Bárány Award winners

László Biró, our first colleague to receive the Róbert Bárány Award, has been with us since 2009. He came from ELTE as a student researcher and continued his studies as a PhD student in the group of Éva Mikics. She obtained her degree in 2020 and for the last three years he has been working as a member of academician László Acsády's group as a research associate at the HUN-REN Institute of Experimental Medicine.  

According to the justification for the award, "His outstanding achievement is the elucidation and characterisation of the neural background of aggression resulting from early social isolation. In doing so, she has investigated the effects of early social isolation on the structure and function of the prefrontal cortex, but also the connections between the prefrontal cortex and the hypothalamus, and the synergistic effects between psychosocial and biological factors. His findings will provide deeper insights into the neurobiological basis of different forms of aggression and may represent an important advance in the development of pharmacotherapeutic interventions."

It is possible that not every word of this well-worded text will be understood by those who are not familiar with the anatomy of the brain, but the point is still clear: in our increasingly harsh world, where masses of people feel excluded and alone in the constant noise, where young people growing up in seemingly orderly circumstances unexpectedly, and not only in America, run amok, the significance of the research carried out by Laci Biró is unquestionable, and its effectiveness is much needed.

Several news sources have reported that the awards were presented by Balázs Gulyás together with Robert Barany who is the great-grandson of the Nobel Prize winner Róbert Bárány.  He travelled from Sweden to Budapest just to participate in this award ceremony.

In the context of the prize, let us briefly recall who Róbert Bárány (Vienna, 22 April 1876 - Uppsala, 8 April 1936) was.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1914 for his work on 'the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus (organ of equilibrium)', and is listed in the encyclopaedias as either a Swedish doctor of Hungarian origin or an Austrian of Hungarian origin. His Austrian wife, who loved him and supported him in his work, said that her husband was Hungarian, while he claimed to be Austrian. A typical Hungarian life story.

What is certain is that he took his medical profession seriously. He had left his clinical job in Vienna - he was a private lecturer in otolaryngology at the University of Vienna - and even his stiff knee from childhood tuberculosis of the bone did not prevent him from volunteering as a doctor at the front in the WW1. He was taken prisoner of war at Przemysl in the spring of 1915, and was almost taken to a prisoner of war camp in Afghanistan, where he also worked. In 1915 he could not get his Nobel Prize because of his captivity, but, in the high prestige of science at the time, the Russian military command declared him a 'war invalid' and released him from captivity in 1916. It is said that he was truly happy there in the war camp, which, despite the Nobel Prize and other honours, and the comfort of living in Sweden following Vienna, can be understood when one learns of some of the events of his life. Not many people could have told us what we know about him from the nurses who worked with him in the POW camp and then returned to Vienna. There the Russians prayed for two men. One was the Tsar, the other was him.

Róbert Bárány, who was awarded the Nobel Prize 110 years ago, whether he is Austrian, Hungarian or Swedish, deserves to have at least one prize in his name.

And to Laci, we wish that his further achievements will contribute to a better quality of life for many, and that his discoveries and his life will bring this still very young prize - and thus, of course, himself - a good reputation and respect.