During the recent 11th Virtual European Narcolepsy Day on 5 September 2020 in Berlin, dr. Ling Shan received the Young Scientists Award 2020 from the European Narcolepsy Network. 

His research project is a part of successful long term collaboration between Prof. Swaab from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Prof. Gert Jan Lammers and Dr. Rolf Fronczek from the Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Neurology, Leiden and Sleep Wake Centre SEIN, Heemstede.

Shan’s research shows that long-term use of opiate drugs may increase the number of hypothalamic hypocretin/orexin cells and might ameliorate certain symptoms of narcolepsy, such as cataplexy.