Michel Hamon’s exceptional research contributions to the science of serotonin recognised by the 2017 ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award
The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) is pleased to announce Michel Hamon as the recipient of the 2017 ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award in recognition of his ground-breaking work on serotonin, a substance important for mood, and the role of the brain receptors for serotonin in the treatment of psychiatric illness with medicines such as antidepressants. The ECNP Neuropsychopharmacology Award is presented annually and recognises distinguished research in applied and translational neuroscience.
Director of research at the French Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM) and professor of neuropharmacology at Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris VI), Michel Hamon has been at the centre of European serotonin research for forty years. His pioneering studies on these receptors and their functional implications have led to major advances in our understanding of sleep regulation, anxiety, alcohol dependence, pain, and associated depression-like behaviours.
Michel Hamon began his career with a PhD on biochemical regulatory mechanisms of 5-HT synthesis under Jacques Glowinski at the Collège de France, with important work quickly following on 5-HT-acting drugs (LSD, methiothepin, metergoline, quipazine, azapirones, SSRIs and others) and their effects on central neurotransmission.
This part of the website could either be in French or English, depending on the sources of the actualities.