2006 Finalist Gábor Tamás

Gábor Tamás, for his essay, "Lighting the fire in cortical microcircuits: Exciting role for chandelier cells." Dr. Tamás was born in Dunaújváros, Hungary and completed undergraduate studies in biology at the University of Szeged, Hungary. As a graduate student he was trained in neuroanatomy and physiology in the group of Peter Somogyi at the University of Oxford, where he investigated the function, number, and location of synapses between neocortical neurons. In 1998, Dr. Tamás returned to Szeged to establish his own laboratory and identified the first intercellular mechanism capable of synchronizing cortical neurons at gamma frequency. His group discovered that the so-called neurogliaform interneuron is capable of eliciting slow, GABAB receptor-mediated inhibition in the cerebral cortex. Dr. Tamás was a gymnast for 15 years but now gets his exercise from whitewater rafting, skiing, and hikes in the mountains.

For the full text of the essays by the Prize Winner and Finalists, see Science Online at sciencemag.org.