Beata Sperlagh is the deputy director and Head of Department of Pharmacology and Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology of Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Budapest, Hungary; and honorary professor of Pharmacology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. She has been graduated as an MD at the Semmelweis University, Budapest, in 1987, obtained her PhD in 1994 and DSc degree in 2004 at the Medical Section of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest and board certificate in clinical pharmacology in 2000. She has been spent periods in the Center of Neurochemistry in Orangeburg, New York as a visiting scientist in 1991, 1992 and 1996. Since 2016, she is the member of the Academia Europaea.

Her major scientific interest is neuroscience and pharmacology. She has 25-year experience, and is a leading expert in the field of purinergic signalling in the nervous system. Her recent major achievements are the discovery of the P2X7 purinergic receptors regulating neurotransmission, identification of novel ATP release and glia-neuron cross-talk mechanisms and validation of P2X7 receptor as a new drug target in psychiatric disorders. She has also contributed with pioneering observations to the pharmacology of central cannabinoid receptors and the neurochemistry of neurodegenerative diseases. Her research team applies multidisciplinary biomedical technology to identify new drug targets in CNS disorders. She has strong commitment to the translation of basic science findings to new therapies and has established relationship with pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Sperlágh is the President of the Hungarian Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology; the Section Editor of Brain Research Bulletin, Inflammopharmacology, the Associate Editor of Purinergic Signalling, and the Editorial Board member of British Journal of Pharmacology, Neurochemistry International and Neurochemical Research. She is the past and present member of juries of numerous national and international funding bodies such as the Advisory Board of Bólyai fellowship (HAS), Hungarian National Science Foundation, FWF and European Commission.