French scientist wins 'American Nobel'

A French scientist was awarded a top science prize, for his work on brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease.

Pioneering Parkinson's disease neurosurgeon professor Alim-Louis Benabid, Grenoble, France. Files 2013. Wikimedia commons

Alim Louis Benabid of the Academy of Sciences in France won the Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award on Monday.

Benabid works on deep-brain stimulation techniques that restore function in patients with Parkinson's disease.

"It has spurred further investigations into the use of electrical stimulation that is already helping others with neurological and psychiatric diseases", said the Lasker foundation.

The work of Benabid, who shares the award with American neurologist Mahlon DeLong of Emory university, has enhanced the lives of more than 100,000 patients worldwide who have undergone the procedure.