Hannah Monyer (born 3 October 1957 in

Laslea Laslea (german: Grosslasseln; hu, Szászszentlászló) is a commune located in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of five villages: Florești (''Felsendorf'', ''Földszin''), Laslea, Mălâncrav (''Malmkrog'', ''Almakerék''), ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

) is a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

-born (

Transylvanian Saxon The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ...

)

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

neurobiologist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and glial c ...

and, since 1999,Hannah Monyer
, Crossroads in Biology, received 27 May 2010. she has been Director of the Department of Clinical Neurology at the University Hospital in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

.Why we remember and forget
, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, retrieved 27 May 2010. In 2004 she was awarded the 1.55 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...

.Hannah Monyer receives Leibniz Prize
, University of Heidelberg, retrieved 27 May 2010. She received the Philip Morris Research Prize—described by Bio-pro as "one of the most prestigious science awards in Germany"—in 2006.
, Biopro, retrieved 27 May 2010. In 2010, the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

awarded her a total of 1.87 million euros for her research. Her research has examined the composition of

NMDA receptor The ''N''-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (also known as the NMDA receptor or NMDAR), is a glutamate receptor and ion channel found in neurons. The NMDA receptor is one of three types of ionotropic glutamate receptors, the other two being AMPA rece ...

s and their expression patterns in brain cell populations. NMDA receptors are relevant to

synaptic plasticity In neuroscience, synaptic plasticity is the ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken over time, in response to increases or decreases in their activity. Since memories are postulated to be represented by vastly interconnected neural circuit ...

and ultimately to the brain's capacity to remember and learn. She has also shown that there are different kinds of

glutamate receptor Glutamate receptors are synaptic and non synaptic receptors located primarily on the membranes of neuronal and glial cells. Glutamate (the conjugate base of glutamic acid) is abundant in the human body, but particularly in the nervous system a ...

, studied various neurological disorders, and the modulation of gamma-Aminobutyric acid interneurones in a genetic paradigm. She developed the new techniques in molecular analysis that underlie her work. Monyer is an associate editor of ''Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience'', published by the University of Heidelberg, and a member of the Senate of the Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen ( "German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases".)DZNE
The Senate of the DZNE, retrieved 27 May 2010. After receiving her MD in 1983, Monyer did postdoctoral work at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Medical Centre. She returned to Heidelberg in 1989, where she received a Schilling endowment professorship before setting up her own research group. The ''Siebenbürgische Zeitung'' ( "Transylvanian Newspaper") describes her as "multilingual and highly musical", mentioning her proficiency with the piano and her ability to speak to most of her multinational employees in their own language.Interview with Hannah Monyer
Siebenbürgische Zeitung, retrieved 27 May 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monyer, Hannah Living people 1957 births People from Sibiu County German women academics Heidelberg University alumni Academic staff of Heidelberg University Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners Transylvanian Saxon people Romanian women academics German people of German-Romanian descent