Calgary-born Christopher Gregg, grand prize winner of the 2010 Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology, studies how gene expression in the brains of offspring is altered by the environment and stresses experienced by parents. (Johanna Cush)

Calgary-born researcher Christopher Gregg has won a prestigious international award for his research.

Gregg, 35, has been awarded the Eppendorf/Science Prize for Neurobiology for his work on how inherited maternal and paternal genes affect the brains of children.

"I was extremely surprised and delighted to win the award," he said from Cambridge, Mass., where he is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.

Gregg graduated with a degree in biochemistry from the University of Lethbridge, earning a PhD at the University of Calgary under the guidance of an award-winning stem cell researcher.

In 2006, he moved to Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of molecular biologist Catherine Dulac, where he altered his research focus to utilize a then-emerging technology called next-generation genetic sequencing.

His research, as detailed in a 1,000-word essay submitted to the competition for young scientists, earned him the $25,000 grand prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Germany-based life sciences company Eppendorf. The essay appears in this week's issue of the journal Science, published by the U.S. association.

"The general premise is trying to understand how the information we inherit from parents influences brain function and behaviour," Gregg explained. "There are other things at a basic biological level where parents can influence the expression of genes in your brain, and the expression of those genes changes depending on whether you inherited them from your mother or your father."

Gregg, himself a married father of two young children, said these parental genes — along with environmental factors — could determine whether a person has an underlying susceptibility to neurological disorders and diseases.

So far, his research suggests that mothers have dominant control over gene expression during brain development in the fetus, while fathers have more control over gene expression in the adult brain.

Currently, his work is focused on understanding whether maternal and paternal gene expression in the brains of offspring is altered according to the environment and stresses experienced by parents.

These insights could lead to a new understanding of how to improve the lifelong health of children, with potential relevance to neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis as well as cancer, diabetes, obesity, eating disorders, depression and addiction.