UCL academic awarded MRC Millennium Medal

Sarah Tabrizi - Professor Sarah Tabrizi - Professor Sarah Tabrizi (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) has been named as the joint-winner of the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Millennium Medal. The medal, specially created by the Royal Mint, is MRC's most prestigious personal prize. It is presented each year to an outstanding researcher who has made a major contribution to MRC's mission to improve human health through world-class medical research. This year, the award is shared between Professor Tabrizi and biotechnologist Professor Lisa Hall (University of Cambridge). Professor Tabrizi has been recognised by MRC for her outstanding achievements in medical research, including her pioneering work to advance the understanding and translation of therapies for neurodegeneration - in particular, Huntington's disease. The MRC states that Professor Tabrizi has advanced our understanding of Huntington's disease in patients at every level, with her bench-to-bedside research, which spans from understanding the cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, identifying new drug targets in the lab to first-in-human clinical trials testing novel disease-modifying therapies. Professor Tabrizi also led the first human safety trial of a drug developed to reduce the levels of toxic mutant huntingtin protein in the nervous system.