The Glenn Irvine Prize seeks to pay tribute to Glenn’s service to NA patients and to further his aspiration to find a cure. Glenn’s perseverance for over 15 years bore fruit by broadening the awareness of NA and the existence of treatment options. His commitment to promoting research on NA through the Advocacy aided the ongoing investigations on the significance of mutations in the VPS13 gene vis-à-vis NA and the creation of an NA database.
This Glenn Irvine prize is an award of GBP 5,000 given to a junior investigator in the field to encourage them to pursue further research, with the ultimate aim of curing this progressive neurodegenerative disorder. The recipient of the award receives the funds to support their laboratory work and is invited to give a presentation at the next NA international symposium.
The first winner of the Glenn Irvine Prize was Jae-Sook Park in May of 2020. Dr Park is Senior Research Scientist in Dr. Aaron Neiman’s lab at Stony Brook, Long Island, NY, USA where she works with VSP13 proteins. Dr. Neiman expects Dr. Park will continue to make significant contributions to our understanding of how this protein family functions both in yeast and in human cells.
The second winner of the Glenn Irvine Prize is Dr Kevin Peikert in 2023. The award was presented to the winner by Ginger Irvine and Professor Adrian Danek on 17 September 2023 at the 11th International Symposium in Homburg (Saar), Germany.