Home - Harvard Brain Science Initiative

3D microscopy of the brain revealing the spatial distribution of an essential neuronal protein, CTIP2

Beauty of the Brain

Stunning research images submitted by Harvard affiliated scientists for our annual Beauty of the Brain image contest.Learn more >

Albert Lin working on a microscope in Aravi Samuel's lab

Community Stories

Accessible summaries of recent research papers written by HBI scientists.Learn more >

Faculty Directory

Learn more about the 100s of faculty members in our network.Learn more >

attendees of 2024 HBI Bipolard Disorder symposium

HBI Events

Check out our upcoming and past events!Learn more >

Humans of HBI

Interviews profiling faculty, fellows, students, and staff working in the Harvard neuroscience community.Humans of HBI

Beauty of the Brain

Stunning research images submitted by Harvard affiliated scientists for our annual Beauty of the Brain image contest.Learn more >

Community Stories

Accessible summaries of recent research papers written by HBI scientists.Learn more >

Faculty Directory

Learn more about the 100s of faculty members in our network.Learn more >

attendees of 2024 hbi bipolar disorder symposium

HBI Events

Check out our upcoming and past events!Learn more >

Humans of HBI

Interviews profiling faculty, fellows, students, and staff working in the Harvard neuroscience community.Humans of HBI

2025 BIPOLAR DISORDER SEED GRANT AWARDEES

Supported by the Dauten Family Foundation and Sandra Lee Chen and Sidney Chen, the HBI Bipolar Disorder Seed Grant Program funds research relevant to the basic understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder at Harvard University and its affiliated hospitals. We are delighted to announce the 2025 awardees! Click here to learn more about their projects.

Paola Arlotta
Harvard University

Catherine Dulac
Harvard University

Susan Dymecki
Harvard Medical School

Michael E. Greenberg
Harvard Medical School

Jun Huh
Harvard Medical School

William A. Carlezon Jr.
McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Jordan Farrell
Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Christopher Harvey
Harvard Medical School

Daniel Hochbaum
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School

Bernardo Sabatini
Harvard Medical School

Louisa Sylvia
Mass. General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Community Stories

Advancing Metabolic Neuropsychiatry

Dost Öngür introduces a perspectives piece arising from a meeting he recently organized, bringing together experts in neuroscience, psychiatry, and metabolism to discuss how disruptions in brain energy metabolism may contribute to psychiatric disorders—and what might be done to develop innovative therapeutics.

Advances in Gene Therapy for Eye Diseases

Connie Cepko provides an overview of her lab’s longstanding work developing gene therapies for ocular diseases using mouse and rat models. She shares images from studies on retinitis pigmentosa, the most common cause of inherited retinal degeneration worldwide—showing, for instance, how gene therapy can combat oxidation to prolong the survival of cone photoreceptors in the mouse retina, as well as preserve the retinal pigment epithelium.

When Neurons Discover on Their Own

How does the brain really see? In a new study, Victoria Zhanqi Zhang and the Ponce Lab reveal that neurons across the primate visual cortex are tuned not just to objects, but to animal features—highlighting a surprising bias in how the brain encodes natural scenes. Their findings shed light on the fundamental principles of visual representation.

Upcoming Events

Turning Research into Real-World Impact: Insights from an MD and a PhD who made the leap from academia to biotech entrepreneurship

August 11, 2025
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Location: BioLabs 1080

Featuring Emily Stern and Roni Setton (Ceretype Neuromedicine)

Journeys in Neuro

August 13, 2025
12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Location: Waterhouse Room

Talks by David A. Silbersweig (Professor, BWH and HMS), Gabriella Carillo (Postdoc, Engle Lab), Martine Grenon (PhD Student), and Erin Tam (Research Assistant, Harvey Lab)