Wiley Prize Honors Connectomes Research

Annual award recognizes contributions to understanding the brain's neural networks.

Published on Feb. 23, 2026

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The Wiley Foundation has announced the recipients of the 24th annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, which will be awarded to John White, Gerald Rubin, Sebastian Seung, and Mala Murthy for their work in reconstructing and interpreting connectomes - the anatomical wiring diagrams of neurons and synapses that underlie how the brain processes information and controls actions.

Why it matters

Understanding connectomes is crucial for comprehending how the nervous system functions, develops, and can malfunction in diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and schizophrenia. The Wiley Prize honors groundbreaking research that opens new fields and advances key concepts in biomedicine.

The details

The four researchers used advanced imaging and computational techniques to map the intricate neural networks that govern brain activity and behavior. Their work has provided a new framework for studying the brain's inner workings and diagnosing neurological disorders.

  • The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences has been awarded annually since 2002.
  • This year's award will be presented on April 10, 2026 as part of The Rockefeller University Lecture Series.

The players

John White

Emeritus Professor of Anatomy and Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Gerald Rubin

Senior Group Leader at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus.

Sebastian Seung

Anthony B. Evnin Professor in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Computer Science at Princeton University.

Mala Murthy

Director of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and the Karol and Marnie Marcin '96 Professor of Neuroscience at Princeton University.

H. Robert Horvitz

Member of the Wiley Prize awards jury, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Deborah Wiley

Chair of the Wiley Foundation.

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What they’re saying

“Understanding a connectome is essential to understanding the nature and logic of a nervous system and hence how it functions to respond to stimuli in the environment and control behavior and other physiological outputs, how it develops and can be modified with experience and age, and how it might dysfunction in disease.”

— H. Robert Horvitz, Member of the Wiley Prize awards jury

“The Wiley Foundation honors scientists who are dedicated to solving complex biological mechanisms which result in seminal discoveries that open the door for future innovations. The work of the 24th Annual Wiley Prize recipients truly upholds this mission by helping us to understand how networks of neurons interact and communicate, offering a framework for diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia.”

— Deborah Wiley, Chair of the Wiley Foundation

What’s next

A recording of the Wiley Prize Lecture will be available at the Wiley Foundation website following the April 10, 2026 event at The Rockefeller University.

The takeaway

The Wiley Prize recognizes pioneering research that expands our fundamental understanding of the brain and opens new avenues for diagnosing and treating neurological and psychiatric disorders. The 2026 recipients have made groundbreaking contributions to mapping the neural networks that underlie cognition and behavior.