Eric Gouaux, Ph.D., a neuroscientist with an exceptional record of accomplishment at Oregon Health & Science University, has earned a rare distinction as a two-time recipient of the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award.
Since the award's inception in 1984, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, of the National Institutes of Health, has granted the award about 600 times to the leading neuroscientists in the United States.
Now, Gouaux has earned it twice — the first was in 2008.
Gouaux will receive $5.4 million over the next seven years to extend the groundbreaking work of his lab to advance molecular understanding about how the brain processes information. Gouaux and collaborators will harness state-of-the-art cryogenic electron microscopy in a national center that he helped to establish in 2018.
"This award will enable us to understand how receptors are organized and distributed in the junctions, or synapses, between nerve cells," he said. "We're taking advantage of new technology to visualize synapses in this incredibly important part of the nervous system in ways that have been previously unattainable."
Cryo-electron microscopy reveals molecules at the near-atomic scale, enabling scientists to unlock life-science quandaries running the gamut from Alzheimer's disease to the Zika virus.
Located in the basement of the Robertson Life Sciences Building on OHSU's South Waterfront Campus, the scopes are situated atop special pads designed to eliminate so much as the faint vibration of boat propellers in the nearby Willamette River. Gouaux, who established the center as one of its co-principal investigators, has turned out a steady stream of research publications in the world's leading scientific journals revealing new insights into brain function.
"We can now understand what's going on in these critical communication junctions in the brain and better understand what goes wrong in cases of specific diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases," he said. "This research forms the foundation of discovery of small molecules that could treat disease."
Gouaux, an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Jennifer and Bernard Lacroute Endowed Chair in Neuroscience Research, came to OHSU in 2005.
A senior scientist with the Vollum Institute, Gouaux credits OHSU and the Vollum Institute for fostering a culture of innovation.
"None of us does this in a vacuum," he said. "My lab might have gotten this award, but it takes an enormous team effort to make it possible for us to do the things that we do. It's an absolutely fantastic place to work and has allowed us to thrive in ways that I didn't know was possible."
Named for the late U.S. Sen. Jacob Javits, R-New York, the award is a conditional, seven-year research grant given to neuroscientists for their superior competence and outstanding productivity. It is designed to provide long-term support to investigators with a history of exceptional talent, imagination and preeminent scientific achievement.
This type of award is known as MERIT, which stands for Method to Extend Research in Time. The NIH, through its institutes, designates these awards to provide long-term support for exceptional scientists.
Remarkably, the latest Javits award is Gouaux's third MERIT award, counting one that he received from the National Institute of Mental Health in 2009.
