The UNC School of Medicine has awarded the esteemed 23rd Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize to David D. Ginty, PhD, the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and Co-Director of the Harvard Brain Science Initiative, for “pioneering research on the development and function of the neural circuits underlying touch.”

Ginty will visit Chapel Hill on March 6, 2025, to receive the prize – a $20,000 award – and give a lecture on his work at the UNC School of Medicine. “Dr. Ginty’s research illuminated the intricate pathways of touch, revealing how our skin’s sensations are felt and communicated to the brain,” said Mark Zylka, PhD, Director of the UNC Neuroscience Center and chair of the Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize committee. “This work deepens our understanding of how we interact with the world through our sense of touch.”

The prize recognizes researchers for outstanding discoveries and seminal insights in the broad field of neuroscience, while celebrating the strength of the neuroscience research program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Click here to learn more about the prize and read a feature on notable findings from the Ginty lab over the past decade.