The Biaggi de Blasys award is attributed once a year to the author of outstanding PhD thesis in translational neuroscience, including basic research on brain functions in health and disease for future translational approaches. Eligible for application are graduates of the doctoral programs in neuroscience of UNIGE, UNIL and EPFL in the year preceding the award ceremony (current call: graduates in 2025).
The prize of 5’000 CHF is awarded on the occasion of the Brain Awareness Week in Lausanne. Applications by LNDS and EPFL graduates should include:
- cover letter
- curriculum vitae
- list of publications
- a pdf version of the thesis
- 1-3 letters of recommendation
Next deadline for candidacies: TBA
Please send the your application in electronic format to: ulrike.toepel@unil.ch
The Biaggi de Blasys award in 2026 went to Dr. Abdel-Rafik Dali for his thesis done under the supervision of Prof. Fanny Langlet at the DSB-UNIL
Congratulations!
In the picture: Rafik and Fanny Langlet, his thesis director, during the award ceremony in March 2026.
Awardees of the Biaggi de Blasys Foundation
| Year of thesis defense | Awardee | Thesis title and director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Abdel-Rafik DALI (UNIL) | LES SIGNALISATIONS DÉRIVÉES DES TANYCYTES MODÈLENT LA FORMATION ET LE REMODELAGE DES CIRCUITS HYPOTHALAMIQUES POUR L’HOMÉOSTASIE ÉNERGÉTIQUE (Thesis director: Fanny Langlet) |
| 2024 | Matthieu GAUTIER (EPFL) | Multimodal transcriptomic atlases of mouse spinal cord injury (Thesis director: Grégoire Courtine) |
| 2023 | PIERRE VASSILIADIS (EPFL) | MECHANISMS UNDERLYING REINFORCEMENT LEARNING OF MOTOR SKILLS (Thesis director: Friedhelm Hummel) |
| 2022 | Alejandro OSORIO-FORERO (UNIL) | An active locus coeruleus in sleep:Towards a dynamic structure of NREM sleep (Thesis director: Anita Lüthi) |
| 2021 | Newton Cho (EPFL) | UNBIASED INTERROGATION OF WHOLE BRAIN CIRCUITS IN SPINAL CORD INJURY LEADING TO THE DESIGN OF A CLINICALLY RELEVANT THERAPY TO IMPROVE LOCOMOTION (Thesis director: Grégoire Courtine) |
| 2020 | Solange Denervaud (UNIL) | WHEN PEDAGOGY MATTERS: INSIGHTS FROM MONTESSORI EDUCATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMANCE MONITORING (Thesis director: Patric Hagmann) |
| 2019 | Polina Oberst (UNIGE) | Plasticity in Neurogenic Competence of Cortical Progenitors in the Developing Mouse Neocortex (Thesis director: Prof. Denis Jabaudon) |
| 2018 | Erika Bindocci (UNIL) | Development of New Imaging Methodologies to Study Neuron-Glia Interaction (Thesis director: Prof. A. Volterra) |
| 2017 | Alexandra Adam-Darque (UNIGE) | FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION OF SENSORY STIMULI IN NEWBORNS DURING THE NEONATAL PERIOD INVESTIGATED WITH FMRI AND HIGH-DENSITY EEG (Thesis directors: Petra Huppi & Christoph Michel) |
| 2016 | Shanaz Diessler (UNIL) | TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF SLEEP REGULATION: TWO GENETIC APPROACHES IN THE MOUSE (Thesis director: Prof. Paul Franken) |
| 2016 | Sebastiano Bariselli (UNIGE) | SHANK3 CONTROLS MATURATION OF SOCIAL REWARD CIRCUITS IN THE VTA (Thesis directors: Profs. Christian Lüscher & Camilla Bellone) |
| 2015 | Anne-Marie Lüchtenborg (UNIL) | WNT SIGNALING IN DROSOPHILA NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTIONS (Thesis director: Prof. Vladimir Katanaev) |
| 2015 | Ilaria Vitali (UNIGE) | ACTIVITY-DEPENDENT CONTROL OVER NEOCORTICAL NEURON DIFFERENTIATION AND IDENTITY (Thesis director: Prof. Denis Jabaudon) |
| 2014 | Géraldine Mang (UNIL) | Contribution of glucocorticoid signaling to the regulation of sleep homeostasis and circadian rhythms (Thesis director: Prof. Paul Franken) |
| 2013 | Gabrielle Pouchelon (UNIGE) | Molecular and cellular controls over target-specific development of thalamocortical neuron projections (Thesis directors: Prof. Denis Jabaudon and Prof. Dominique Muller) |
| 2013 | Andres de la Rossa (UNIGE) | In-vivo reprogramming of postmitotic neocortical neurons (Thesis director: Prof. Denis Jabaudon) |
| 2012 | Aurélie Manuel (UNIL) | Neuroplasticity of inhibitory control (Thesis directors: Prof. Stephanie Clarke and Dr. Lucas Spierer) |
| 2012 | Ralf Wimmer (UNIL) | The role of spindles for sleep: Manipulating oscillatory activity in the thalamocortical network (Thesis directors: Prof. Anita Lüthi and Prof. Paul Franken) |
| 2011 | Irina Constantinescu (UNIGE) | Influence of sleep-wake states on human memory and underlying neural plasticity: insights from EEG recordings and parasomnia (Thesis director: Prof. Sophie Schwartz) |
| 2010 | Anne Vaslin (UNIL) | Endocytosis, autophagy and JNK inhibition in neuroprotection against excitotoxicity and neonatal cerebral ischemia (Thesis director: Prof. Peter Clarke) |
| 2010 | Fabio Longordo (UNIL) | Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of sleep loss on hippocampal synaptic plasticity (Thesis director: Prof. Anita Lüthi) |