For his work in brain development, Flavio Donato is the 2017 grand prize winner of The Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology.

Novel imaging techniques are making it possible to study the brain while it’s at work. These new, non-invasive tools – representing significant advances related to positron emission tomography (PET), 3-D microscopy and the use of magnetic fields and nanoparticles to remotely control targeted cells – permit the real-time study of neural activity in unprecedented detail.