2026 Eppendorf & Science Prize honors breakthrough in 3D mapping of brain lipids

Congratulations to Gioele La Manno, Ph.D., at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, on winning the 2026 Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology for his pioneering work of whole-brain 3D lipid mapping, providing an atlas of a hidden layer of neural diversity.

“Gioele La Manno’s winning essay describes a new way of thinking about lipids,” said Mattia Maroso, Senior Editor at Science and Chair of the Prize Jury. “Lipids are well-known cellular components that have been considered almost exclusively as structural molecules. Dr. La Manno’s work suggests that lipid heterogeneity defines a hierarchical map of ‘lipizones’ that help define brain regions, cell identities, and physiological states. Deciphering the lipizone map will bring to light new principles of brain organization.”

Lipids form the membranes of brain cells and the myelin that surrounds nerve fibers, but their diversity has been much more difficult to map than the diversity of genes. La Manno and his colleagues developed computational methods to combine millions of imaging mass spectra into the first three-dimensional lipid atlas of the adult mouse brain.

“The findings reveal a layer of brain diversity that has been largely overlooked,” said La Manno. “By making it possible to study where lipids are located and how their distributions change, our work provides a foundation for testing how lipid composition contributes to cell identity, brain function, and disease.”

Two finalists recognized for pioneering contributions in neurobiology

Zuri Sullivan, Ph.D., Zuri Sullivan, Ph.D., Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the Whitehead Career Development Professor of Biology at MIT in Cambridge USA, is honored for her work on how the brain distinguishes between different immune challenges to generate distinct states of sickness. Alexander Shakeel Bates, Ph.D., Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, is recognized for building and analyzing central nervous system connectomes in the fruit fly.

Eppendorf and the journal Science have been awarding this prestigious prize since 2002. Since its inception, the Prize has recognized nearly 80 winners and finalists - brilliant young scientists at an early stage of their careers.

This year’s prize will be presented for the 25th time on November 15, 2026, in Washington, D.C., USA, during the week of the Society for Neuroscience meeting.