Latsis Prize: Prof. Mackenzie W. Mathis Awarded
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Mackenzie W. Mathis, a professor at EPFL and winner of the Latsis 2024 Swiss Science Prize, is a pioneer in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to behavioural neuroscience.
Prof. Mathis research aims to understand the neural bases of learning and movement. She uses mice playing video games while recording their brain activity, and develops algorithms to analyse this data, in particular the open source software **DeepLabCut**, which enables the animals’ movements to be tracked with precision.
The scientist is particularly interested in how the brain adapts to changes in the environment, such as unconsciously adjusting the force required to hold a cup of coffee as it becomes emptier. She and her team have created algorithms, such as **CEBRA**, to link observed behaviour to neural activity. This work could ultimately serve as the basis for neuroprostheses that restore vision or mobility in humans.
Despite the progress made by AI in understanding neural networks, Prof. Mathis stresses that neuroscience is still in a ‘pre-Newtonian’ phase and that much remains to be discovered, particularly about the precise mechanisms involved in the functioning of neurons.
A brilliant career in sciences
Mackenzie W. Mathis was born in March 1984 in California, where she grew up in the Central Valley bordered by the Sierra Nevada mountains, practising horse riding at a high level. It was during this time that she developed her passion for animals and their motor skills.
She initially studied science at the University of Oregon with a view to becoming a surgeon. But her desire to find new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases pushed her towards fundamental research. After a few years devoted to stem cells at Columbia University in New York, she switched to systems neuroscience and obtained her doctorate in 2017 at Harvard. That same year, she landed a position to open her own laboratory at the Rowland Institute at Harvard. In 2020, she joined the Brain Mind Institute at EPFL, where she is continuing her research as holder of the Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Integrative Neuroscience.
She has already won numerous grants and awards, including the FENS EJN Young Investigator Prize 2022 and the Eric Kandel Young Neuroscientist Prize 2023, which she received jointly with Alexander Mathis, co-developer of DeepLabCut. She is currently leading two projects supported by the SNSF.
The Latsis Prize
The Latsis Swiss Science Prize has been awarded every year since 1984 by the SNSF on behalf of the Latsis International Foundation, a Geneva-based non-profit institution founded in 1975. It is awarded to a scientist aged 40 or under who works in Switzerland. The prize, worth CHF 100,000, is one of Switzerland’s most prestigious scientific awards.
The award ceremony (in conjunction with the Marcel Benoist Prize) will take place on Thursday 7 November 2024 at 6pm in Berne.
➡️ Source: SNFS
📸 Mackenzie W. Mathis © Daniel Rihs | SNSF