One of the world’s most prestigious medical research awards, the Jacobæus Prize has been awarded to Stafford Lightman, Professor of Medicine at the University of Bristol, for his advances to our understanding of a key hormonal system to tackle stress.
The Jacobæus Prize was established in 1939 to commemorate the Swedish professor Hans Christian Jacobæus, and is awarded annually by the Novo Nordisk Foundation to an internationally-recognised scientist for extraordinary achievements within medical research.
Professor Lightman, a world-renowned neuroendocrinology expert, studies how the regulation of hormones released in our bodies in response to stress, affect the function of the brain and metabolic system. His latest research has focused on cortisol — a key hormone critical for the maintenance of life as it regulates a wide range of physiological functions from metabolism and immune responses through to blood pressure and blood sugar levels. It plays an important role in memory formation and other cognitive processes, and helps the body respond to stress. Low levels of cortisol are associated with debilitating fatigue, muscle weakness, dangerously low blood pressure and depression. While the pharmaceutical industry has invested heavily in providing new and more potent drugs Professor Lightman’s research has shown that rather than needing any new drugs, it is the timing of cortisol delivery- in line with the body's own rhythmic pattern of cortisol secretion - that is important for normal cognition and behaviour. This discovery has led to new ways of treating many people with hormonal imbalances.
Read the full University of Bristol press release
Further information
Professor Stafford Lightman
Stafford Lightman has been a professor of endocrinology since 1988 and a Professor at the University of Bristol since 1993.
He was President of the British Neuroscience Association from 2017 to 2019. He has published more than 600 scientific articles and has been a pioneer in his field. He was also the founder Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neuroendocrinology. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017 for his contribution to his field.
About the Jacobæus Prize
The Jacobæus Prize was established in 1939 to commemorate the Swedish professor Hans Christian Jacobæus. The purpose of the Prize is to promote medical research, and it is awarded annually to a distinguished international researcher, who is invited to give a lecture on his or her research on a topic within physiology or endocrinology. The accompanying award of DKK 1,500,000 (€200,000) is distributed as a personal award of DKK 250,000 and an award for research or development work of DKK 1,250,000.
The Prize is awarded under the auspices of the Committee on Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, with lectures being held mainly at Scandinavian universities or in European cities and towns connected with medical research.
Hans Christian Jacobæus (1879–1937) was a Swedish professor and pioneering clinical researcher who developed a method for exploring the pleural cavity (thoracoscopy) using a cystoscope, which greatly improved the diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases, especially tuberculosis. Hans Christian Jacobæus served on the Board of the Nordisk Insulin Foundation from its inception in 1926 and until his death.
About the Novo Nordisk Foundation
The Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives established in Denmark in 1924. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet. The Foundation’s mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society. www.novonordiskfonden.dk/en
