Pioneering research into brain cancer is awarded the world’s largest brain research prize, The Brain Prize

Gliomas are types of cancers that arise in the brain and are extraordinarily difficult to treat. They are the leading cause of brain tumour-related deaths in both children and adults. Two pioneering scientists are awarded The Brain Prize 2025 for their discoveries that open up an entirely new way of thinking about and understanding these lethal diseases, and the potential strategies to treat them.

Copenhagen, Denmark, March 5th, 2025. Neuroscientists, Professors Michelle Monje (USA) and Frank Winkler (Germany), have made transformative discoveries by showing that neural activity in the brain can promote cancer initiation, growth, spread and treatment resistance. Thus, the everyday activity that takes place in the brain promotes the development of cancers within it. Striking recent studies further show that the influence of the nervous system is not limited to tumours in the brain, but also tumours throughout the body.

These remarkable findings have laid the foundation for an entirely new field of research called ‘Cancer Neuroscience’ that represents a paradigm shift in the understanding of these cancers, and which offers vital new opportunities for treatment.

Their efforts are rewarded with The Brain Prize 2025, the world’s largest award for outstanding contributions to neuroscience, established by the Lundbeck Foundation.

The Brain Prize 2025 worth DKK 10 million (€1.3 million) is awarded to:

Michelle Monje MD, PhD, the Milan Gambhir Professor of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology at Stanford Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator,

and

Frank Winkler, MD, Professor of Experimental Neurooncology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg University Hospital, Department of Neurology, and German Cancer Research Center

Congratulations to the winners!

Learn more on the Brain Prize website: https://brainprize.org/