Two Stanford University research scientists have won Pioneer Awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which include $2.5 million to each over the next five years, for brain research. They are among a dozen scientists nationally so honored.

Thomas Clandinin, assistant professor of neurobiology, and Mark Schnitzer, assistant professor of biological sciences and applied physics, have become the eighth and ninth Stanford faculty members to win among the 46 Pioneer Awards granted over the four years since the program began. Eight of the nine Stanford winners have been from the School of Medicine.

"The NIH Director's Pioneer Award is one of the most prestigious indicators of bold and creative research, and has only been awarded to truly rising superstars in science and medicine," said Philip Pizzo, dean of the School of Medicine.

Clandinin has been studying how the fruit fly's brain figures out which way something is moving by analyzing the pattern of light across the retina over time. The work could eventually help blind people discern colors, shapes and depth.

Schnitzer has been doing related work, using imaging techniques to understand how neural circuits in the brain work.

The two will now collaborate in their research, using an imaging system to analyze the neuron activity in many fly brains simultaneously.

"We're going to be developing a novel approach to brain imaging," Schnitzer said. "This award will greatly accelerate our research."

NIH Pioneer Awards were initiated to encourage innovative approaches to research challenges.

-- Don Kazak