Between 2005 and 2020, 17 of our staff have won the Academy's Youth Prize, which is a very impressive achievement. However, after Andris Szőnyi was honoured, there was a longer break until 21 February 2025.
Susanne Prokop received the award with a certificate and a cash prize in the conference room of the MTA Library and Information Centre, and on behalf of our institute and its management, we would like to congratulate her!
Erik Hrabovszky's group, with Soma Szentkirályi-Tóth and Balázs Göcz as first co-authors, published a paper in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience, reporting their findings on the lateral septum, a brain region known as the lateral septum, which produces kisspeptin. The Working Group on Reproductive Neurobiology, which is reporting the paper, is working on the brain regulation of reproduction. Since "kiss" means kiss in Hungarian, the name kisspeptin is a good match for the role of the peptide in reproduction. But the reason for the name was quite different.
The facts don't change what we think about them, but our lives are very much influenced by what is generally accepted in the treatment of, for example, a disease. Millions of lives and quality of life are affected if experimental results and observations show that we need to think differently, that we need a paradigm shift. This is what is happening now with thyroid hormone, with the active involvement of Balázs Gereben and his team.
Their discovery was published in the journal PNAS.
The Reproductive Neurobiology research group led by Erik Hrabovszky has published a methodological breakthrough in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. We spoke to Eva Rumpler, who, along with Balázs Göcz, is the shared first author of the paper.
The first TDK conference of the year, in which our young researchers could present their knowledge and results, was held from 6-8 February 2025 at the SE Theoretical Block in Nagyvárad Square.
It is 13 years since the first Nature Method article by the Balázs Rózsa group was published. Gergely Szalay, the first author of the 2012 article and the last author of the one published in December 2024, and Linda Judák, one of the first authors of the publication, share their thoughts on their second publication and the significance of their results.
This is the third Science article published by the Nyiri group in five years. As a Science article goes, each one contains a breakthrough discovery about the structure and function of the brain. The first three authors of the current article are two PhD students and an undergraduate, and for the first author Krisztián Zichó PhD student, it is the second Science paper with his first authorship.
One of the wonderful things about research is that it never ends. For example, there is a basic concept like action potential, which has a textbook definition that goes back decades. What else is new about it? Quite a lot! János Brunner, the first author of a paper in PLOS Biology and a senior researcher in the Szabadics group, has agreed to tell us.
The aim of the Róbert Bárány Prize is to recognise and financially support the scientific achievements of young researchers. It was established in 2021 by ELKH, the predecessor of HUN-REN, to distinguish those who have achieved outstanding results at international level under 40 years of age. Our colleague László Biró and 8 other young HUN-REN researchers received the award on 5 December 2024, at the National Museum.
