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Winners of world’s largest brain research prize announced

Two neurobiologists have won the 2026 Brain Prize for their pioneering work on the cellular architecture of touch and pain.

The Brain Prize, considered the world’s largest neuroscience research prize, is awarded each year by the Danish Lundbeck Foundation to researchers who have made highly original and influential advances in brain research.

The prize comes with approximately €1.3 million to be shared by the recipients.

Harvard Medical School’s David Ginty received the honour alongside Patrik Ernfors at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

Together, their work has revealed the cellular machinery that turns tactile information from the skin — such as pressure, temperature, vibration, itch, and texture — into neural signals.

The researchers have also mapped how these signals are communicated from the skin through the spinal cord to the brain, where they generate perceptions that guide interactions with the physical world.

Ginty uses a combination of molecular, genetic, physiological, anatomical, and behavioral approaches in mice to investigate the neural circuits that underlie the sense of touch.

His findings have defined the fundamental properties of different types of touch neurons across the body. His lab has also outlined the mechanisms by which touch neurons are activated and the pathways that transmit touch information through the spinal cord.

“David’s research on our sense of touch has been breathtaking. Over decades he and his colleagues have provided major insights into the molecules and neural circuits that mediate every aspect of touch, moving from the sensory neurons in the skin to the spinal cord and to the brain,” said Michael Greenberg, the Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School (HMS).

HMS Dean George Q. Daley added: “David’s research brings us closer to understanding how touch affects perception and behavior. He is tremendously deserving of this recognition from the broader neuroscience community.”

Co-awardee Ernfors is carrying out complementary research. His group works to classify the key cell types involved in sensing touch, temperature, itch, and pain and uses this knowledge to investigate what causes chronic pain.

His work has shown that touch neurons are highly conserved across species, enabling him to provide insights into human health and disease.

Explaining the reasoning for awarding Ginty and Ernfors the Brain Prize 2026, Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, Chair of The Brain Prize Selection Committee said: “By discovering and categorizing distinct sensory neuron types, linking them to specific end organs and pathways, and providing novel widely used genetic and molecular tools, [the winners’] work has created a blueprint for understanding normal touch and for pinpointing where things go wrong in disorders such as chronic pain and hyper- and hyposensitivity that may be associated with diseases of the nervous system.”