Hard-working friend

"I first met Dr. Kuo-Sheng Lee during my internship in Florida, where we quickly became close friends and even shared a home. At that time, I was in the middle of my PhD, while Kuo was wrapping up the final stages of his own PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Biology. From the start, I was blown away by his knowledge, determination, and the depth of his work. He had already published major findings as the first author in Nature and Neuron, and his research on how the brain codes information was not only impressive but deeply motivating. He set a high standard for dedication and achievement that shaped my own approach to research. Kuo quickly became a role model for me, showing me the kind of dedication a scientist could bring to their work. I was proud to watch his PhD defense, and when my internship ended, we both moved to Europe—marking a new chapter for each of us. Thanks to his support and his knowledge of two-photon microscopy, I went back with new insights that led to two publications of my own. Since then, I’ve caught up with Kuo now and then, seeing firsthand how his work evolves. When we met at FENS, he shared some incredible results from his experiments on touch processing in the brain using new microscopy techniques, showing a whole new level of depth in his research. Later, during a visit to Poland, Kuo presented findings from his postdoctoral work in Geneva, already published in Neuron. He also told me he’d just accepted a position as a Principal Investigator at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. After all his years abroad, he’s now returning home to lead his own lab. Kuo is one of those rare scientists whose work consistently amazes and motivates those around him. His dedication and curiosity are both humbling and motivational, and I am genuinely excited to see what he achieves next."

Nominated by Łukasz Bijoch, Laboratory of Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS, Poland