Terrence Sejnowski is a 2025 NIH Director’s Pioneer, which means $3.5 million over five years for his research into memory issues.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has selected Terrence Sejnowski, PhD, a neuroscientist at Salk Institute in La Jolla to receive a 2025 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award.

The award is meant to support scientists with “outstanding records of creativity,” according to the NIH, recognizing high-risk, high-reward research.

Sejnowski, a professor, head of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory and holder of the Francis Crick Chair at Salk, will receive $3.5 million over the next five years to support his lab’s latest project, which will use advanced computational techniques to analyze and model the neural circuit dynamics of working memory. 

Sejnowski’s findings will help neuroscientists better understand and treat memory issues in mental disorders such as schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Throughout his career, Sejnowski has been a “pioneer of new ideas and technologies in neuroscience,” Salk Salk President Dr Gerald Joyce, said in a press release. The NIH award “affirms the power of his bold thinking and will enable him to continue doing the innovative research he does best.”

Sejnowski’s work has shaped modern neuroscience; his 1985 invention of the Boltzmann machine remains the most biologically plausible algorithm for artificial neural networks, according to Salk Institute.

Sejnowski also pioneered a computer program called NETtalk, which laid the groundwork for modern artificial intelligence and tools like ChatGPT.

Most recently, he developed a new technique to measure the precision of synapse strength and plasticity, supporting new research on learning and memory, and examining how these processes decline in aging and disease.