A new study led by researchers at McLean Hospital and Washington State University used advances in digital testing to demonstrate that naturally occurring glucose fluctuations impact cognitive function in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Preliminary results of a first-in-human trial for a new CAR T-based treatment targeting two different sites on glioblastoma tumors result in dramatic, but transient, reductions in tumor size.

From the team of Rajat M. Gupta and colleagues. Co-first authors Gavin R. Schnitzler and Helen Kang (Stanford). Featured in HMS News. New research from Rajat M. Gupta and colleagues, co-first authors Gavin R. Schnitzler and Helen Kang (Stanford), uncover how genetic changes in cells that line blood vessels fuel cardiac disease and brain vessel malformations.

One cell, the “midget retinal ganglion cell,” carries the vast majority of visual information from the eye to the brain in humans. It has been thought to be a primate-specific innovation, making it impossible to study in accessible model systems. Josh Sanes shares how, using molecular comparison of retinas from 17 vertebrate species, researchers from his team and that of former postdoc Karthik Shekhar, were able to trace back through evolution and identify mouse orthologues of midget cells.

The Uchida lab used a genetically encoded glutamate sensor to examine the pattern of glutamate inputs to dopamine neurons in mice. Combining the results with existing knowledge about GABA signaling to these neurons, they gained a new understanding of how these two neurotransmitters collaborate to bring dopamine neurons the information they need to encode reward prediction error (RPE)—the difference between expected and received rewards.

By combining retinal imaging, genetics, and big data, physician-researchers from Harvard Medical School, Mass. Eye and Ear, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have found that they can estimate how likely a person is to develop eye and systemic diseases in the future.

Yichun He and Hailing Shi share new work from labs of Jia Liu and Xiao Wang, on the creation of publicly accessible spatial atlas of the mouse brain with unprecedented level of detail—featuring an analysis of over one million individual cells that pinpointed approximately 230 unique molecular cell types and delineated 106 distinct molecular tissue regions.

Yu-Tzu Shih, Jason Alipio, and Amar Sahay share new research on the autism linked gene Dyrk1a. They find that developmental differences in neural circuitry and social cognition observed in mutant mice with only one copy of the Dyrk1a gene can be rescued by targeting inhibitory neuron plasticity in adulthood.

The brain controls nearly all bodily functions via spinal projecting neurons that carry command signals from the brain to the spinal cord. As part of a collaborative effort by the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network, research co-led by the Zhigang He Lab and Allen Institute for Brain Science used whole-brain imaging and single nucleus transcriptomics to comprehensively profile the anatomy and molecular makeup of these neurons that connect the brain and the body.

Harvard Medical School researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Wyss Institute have developed a molecular test that successfully detected and quantified telltale protein clumps in tissue and fluid samples obtained from patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Working with mice, HMS researchers have identified a potential new strategy for replacing retinal ganglion cells to treat glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. Featured in HMS News From Petr Baranov and colleagues, first author Jonathan R. Soucy.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Beth Stevens, first author Dan Wilton, showing how the process of Huntington’s disease begins well before symptoms appear — and revealing that in mice, the process can be blocked to prevent cognitive problems thought to be relevant in Huntington’s disease, studied with visual discrimination learning and cognitive flexibility tasks.

Harvard MCB Department news article on new research from the lab of Amanda Whipple, first author Daniel Loftus, finding that differences in maternal and paternal genomes in embryonic stem cells shape gene expression in neurons.

The time of day influences cognition, but the molecular and synaptic mechanisms of this influence are elusive. We show that the circadian clock protein BMAL1 has a rhythm in synapses that is critical for corresponding rhythms in synaptic plasticity. Our findings point to local mechanisms for gating computations in anticipation of the time of day.

Akiko Terauchi and Hisashi Umemori share new research that identified the pathway-specific signals that establish functionally segregated dopaminergic synaptic connections in the mammalian brain. The findings may provide strategies to treat pathway-specific disease symptoms in diseases like Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and depression, by targeting the pathway-specific molecular signals.

HMS News article on new research from Mike Greenberg and colleagues, co-first authors Xin Gu and Christopher Nardone, identifying a protein called midnolin that plays a key role in degrading many short-lived nuclear proteins. The study shows that midnolin does so by directly grabbing the proteins and pulling them into the cellular waste-disposal system, called the proteasome, where they are destroyed.

HMS News article on new research from David Ginty and colleagues, first author Rachel L. Wolfson, defining five types of colon neurons that are specialized for sending different signals to the brain. These findings may eventually lead to the development of better therapies for a variety of gastrointestinal problems.

Josh Sanes shares new research from his lab using single cell RNA sequencing to determine the genes expressed by thousands of single cells to complete a cell atlas of the human eye. This now allows scientists to target specific genes when treating conditions such as glaucoma and other ocular diseases.

HMS News article on new research from Francisco Quintana and colleagues, first author, Liliana M. Sanmarco, designing a probiotic suppressing autoimmunity in the mouse brain, a condition that occurs when the immune system attacks the cells of the central nervous system. This technique offers a more precise way to target brain inflammation and minimizes negative side effects when compared with standard therapies.

HMS News article on new research from Sean Megason, Chenghua Gu, Allon M. Klein, and colleagues, first author Natasha O'Brown, using mice and zebrafish to discover a signal produced by neurons that helps the blood-brain barrier form and maintain its protective properties.

HMS News article on new research from Christopher A. Walsh and Kristopher T. Kahle, co-first authors Sattar Khoshkhoo and Yilan Wang, examining the role of somatic mutations — DNA alterations that occur after conception — in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) and suggesting the potential of using existing cancer therapies to treat TLE that is resistant to anti-seizure medications.

Boston Children's Hospital Answers article on new research from from the teams of Maria Lehtinen, Mark Andermann, Hanno Steen, and clinician colleagues at Boston Children’s Hospital and Mass General Hospital, co-first authors Cameron Sadegh and Huixin Xu, suggesting that gene therapy targeting the brain’s choroid plexus could help prevent or ameliorate hydrocephalus in premature newborns with brain bleeds.

HMS News article on new research from David Corey, Artur A Indzhykulian, and colleagues, first author Maryna Ivanchenko. Using mice, the team designed a “mini gene” that could in the future be developed into a therapy for Usher Syndrome type 1F, a severe genetic condition that causes blindness and deafness.

Loss of the inner ear sensory cells, the hair cells, is considered one of the most common causes of hearing loss that is generally permanent. Using single-cell RNAseq, advanced imaging, electrophysiology, and lineage tracing, Yizhou Quan, Zheng-Yi Chen, and colleagues identified a cocktail of drug-like molecules that effectively reprograms fully mature wildtype supporting cells for hair cell regeneration, representing a step forward for hearing restoration by HC regeneration.

The lab of Stephen Liberles was featured in Science News for their recent paper illuminating how the brain becomes aware that there is an infection in the body.

HMS News article on new research from Isaac Chiu and colleagues, first author Felipe Pinho-Ribeiro, showing that bacteria hijack crosstalk between nerve and immune cells to cause meningitis.

Boston Children's Hospital Answers article on new research from Siddharth Srivastava, Annapurna Poduri, and colleagues confirming a previous study finding that about 1 in 4 children with cerebral palsy (CP) who had DNA testing had genetic variants likely to have caused or contributed to their condition.

In order for neurons to be ‘plastic’ and adapt in response to environmental stimuli, they must undergo rapid changes in gene expression. Sometimes these rapid changes can lead to DNA damage. Daniel Gilliam and Elizabeth Pollina of the Greenberg lab describe their discovery of a DNA repair pathway that neurons use to address this challenge.

HMS News article on new research from Sandeep Robert Datta, David Brann, Tatsuya Tsukahara, and colleagues at Duke Health and UC San Diego, finding that long-term loss of smell may be linked to an ongoing immune assault on olfactory nerve cells and an associated decline in the number of those cells.

HMS News article on new research from Khalid Shah and colleagues, first author Kok-Siong Chen, on the development of a new cell therapy approach engineered to eliminate established tumors and to train the immune system to prevent cancer recurrence.

Boston Children's Hospital Answers article on new research from Maria Lehtninen, Naama Kanarek, and colleagues, first author Ahram Jang, on the feasibility of targeting the cerebrospinal fluid and choroid plexus to treat "chemo-brain"-- a side effect of chemotherapy that makes it harder to remember things, maintain attention, and learn new information.

HMS News article on new research from Frank Scheer and colleagues, first author Nina Vujović, providing experimental evidence that late eating may increase hunger and obesity risk.

Nurunisa Akyuz of the Corey lab describes a new study focused on the inner-ear mechanosensory channel, TMC1 (Transmembrane Channel Like 1). Structural modeling, mutagenesis, viral gene delivery and hair-cell physiology experiments were used to determine aspects of TMC1 gating.

Boston Children's Hospital Answers article on new research from Joseph Gonzalez-Heydrich, David Glahn, and colleagues, co-first authors Catherine Brownstein and Elise Douard (Université de Montréal) finding that children with early-onset psychosis have similar rates of deleterious copy number variants (CNVs) as children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The new study suggests that all children and adolescents with a psychotic diagnosis might benefit from undergoing genetic screening.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Christopher Harvey and Michael Greenberg, first author Noah Pettit, and second author Lynn Yap, finding that a gene called Fos is a key player in spatial mapping. It helps the brain use specialized navigation cells to form and maintain stable representations of the environment.

Yuqin Yin and Larry Benowitz describe a new study using RNA sequencing and bioinformatics to identify the transcription factor REST (a.k.a. NRSF) as a key repressor of the genetic program required for neurons to regenerate axons in the central nervous system. Counteracting the inhibitory effects of REST enhances the ability of retinal ganglion cells to regenerate axons through the injured optic nerve and of cortical neurons to regenerate axons in the corticospinal tract.

Neurons called retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) send axons from the retina to the rest of the brain through the optic nerve. When the optic nerve is crushed, most RGCs die and few if any survivors regrow new axons. The labs of Josh Sanes (Harvard) and Zhigang He (Boston Children’s Hospital) recently published two papers defining gene expression programs that regulate RGC survival and regeneration.

HMS News profiling PiNBAC, a new post-bac program that seeks to increase diversity in neuroscience by providing research experience and professional development to college graduates from underrepresented groups. PiNBAC is led by Tari Tan and Bob Datta of the Dept of Neurobiology at HMS.

HMS News article on new research from Stephen Liberles and colleagues, first author Chuchu Zhang, using mice to describe how different cell types in the brain work together to suppress nausea.

Harvard Dept. of MCB News article on new research from Catherine Dulac and colleagues, first author Jessica Osterhout, showing how neurons in the brain directly read signals from the body’s immune system and how those signals alter neural circuit activity to trigger symptoms of sickness.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Charles Czeisler and colleagues, first author Jeanne F Duffy, showing that administering a 5 mg dose of melatonin increased total sleep time compared to a placebo in a small group of healthy adults aged 55 and older.

HMS News article on new research from Christopher J. Hartnick and colleagues, first author Phoebe K. Yu, demonstrating that a surgically implanted device that moves the tongue forward during sleep can safely and effectively reduce sleep apnea in adolescents with Down syndrome.

HMS News profile on Josefina del Marmol, a newly hired assistant professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology, who studies how animals detect and identify scents.

Harvard Health Publishing article outlining LATE (limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy), the third most common cause of dementia in older individuals.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Yun Zhang and colleagues, co-first authors He Liu and Taihong Wu, showing that forgetting generates a novel brain state that is different from the one before learning happened or the one that exists after a memory is formed.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Michael A. Lodato, Eunjung Alice Lee, Christopher A. Walsh, Michael B. Miller, and colleagues, demonstrating that somatic mutations accumulated in the brain cells of patients with Alzheimer’s disease at a faster rate, potentially explaining why brain cells die and revealing new pathways to target for treatment.

HMS News article on new research from Benjamin Neale and colleagues at the Broad Institute, first author Duncan Palmer, revealing new insight into the condition’s molecular underpinnings.

HMS News article from Claude Desplan (NYU) and colleagues, co-first authors Nikolaos Konstantinides, Isabel Holguera, and Anthony M. Rossi, on new research uncovering factors that regulate neuron development in fruit fly visual system.

HMS News article on new research from Pascal Kaeser and colleagues, first author Changliang Liu, identifying a new mechanism that underlies dopamine release in the brain.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Chenghua Gu, first author Swathi Ayloo, identifying a new mechanism regulating the permeability of the blood-brain barrier in mice.

Harvard Health Publishing article discussing recent research suggesting that cataract surgery may protect against dementia.

Round-up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

When neural circuits are assembled, several asymmetric cell behaviors are involved. How are these behaviors coordinated? Evelyn Avilés from the lab of Lisa Goodrich discusses how a new study of the molecule Fat3 and its interactors give us some answers.

Jenny Lu and colleagues in Rachel Wilson’s lab share new work on a neural circuit in the fly that transforms velocity from body-centric to world-centric reference frames. This work reveals how vector computations can be performed in the brain.

HMS News article on a new report on depression commissioned by the Lancet and World Psychiatric Association. The report included recommendations for how health care practitioners, policymakers, community members, and people with depression can work together to build sustainable solutions in response to the ongoing mental health crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Erin Hecht answers this question as part of Harvard Gazette's Wondering, a new series of random questions answered by Harvard experts.

Bruna Paulsen shares new research from the labs of Paola Arlotta and colleagues, using organoid models of the human cerebral cortex to uncover cell-type-specific neurodevelopmental abnormalities that are shared across three different ASD risk genes.

Allison E. Hamilos from the lab of John Assad shares new insights into the role of dopaminergic signaling in modulating the moment-to-moment probability of planned movement.

Harvard Gazette article on a recent panel sponsored by the Harvard Mind Brain Behavior Initiative featuring Kirk R. Daffner, Daniel L. Schacter, and Susanna C. Siegel using the plot of the film Memento to discuss memory, amnesia, and personality.

HMS News article on new research from Siddharth Srivastava, Annapurna Poduri, Mustafa Sahin, and colleagues, first author Maya Chopra, finding that up to 1 in 4 patients with CP have an underlying genetic condition.

Seul Ah Kim from the lab of Bernardo Sabatini shares a new method for studying multi-transmitting neurons (neurons which use more than one neurotransmitter) and explains new findings demonstrating that glutamate and GABA are co-packaged in individual synaptic vesicles in the central nervous system. This work highlights co-release of opposing transmitters leading to correlated excitatory and inhibitory signals in the lateral habenula, a brain region implicated in psychiatric disorders.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

HMS News article on a new discovery by Sean Megason and colleagues, first author Akankshi Munjal, of mechanical process by which sheets of cells morph into the delicate, looping semicircular canals of the inner ear.

HMS News article on new research from Isaac Chiu and colleagues, first author Nicole Yang, suggesting that anthrax has an unexpected benefit— one specific type of anthrax toxin can silence multiple types of pain in animals.

HMS News Q+A with Jan Drugowitsch about his lab's research on how the brain processes information in order to make split-second decisions, the role of computation, and the importance of collaboration in unraveling the mysteries of decision-making.

Harvard Gazette conversation with David Silbersweig on the neuroscience behind why certain songs get stuck in our heads more than others.

The Tan-Yang Center seeks a Program Manager who will be responsible for planning scientific events and outreach activities, running a postdoctoral fellowship program, managing a website, newsletter, and social media, developing new community-building activities, and liaising with the related scientific and administrative units at Harvard University, as well as our sister Center at the McGovern Institute at MIT.

HMS News article on new research from Qiufu Ma and colleagues, co-first authors Shenbin Liu and Zhifu Wang, elucidating the underlying neuroanatomy of acupuncture that activates a specific signaling pathway.

Luis Hernandez-Nunez shares new research conducted as a part of his PhD research in the lab of Aravinthan Samuel uncovering new molecular receptors, cells, circuits and behavioral strategies that underlie the thermosensitivity of fly larvae.

Abdulkadir Canatar, Blake Bordelon and Cengiz Pehlevan share new research exploring why neural networks do not overfit.

Sarah Melzer from the Sabatini lab shares new work on the functions of the neuropeptide GRP in regulating fear memories. Their work highlights the mechanisms through which GRP modulates a specialized neuronal circuit in the cortex during fear conditioning.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Gord Fishell and colleagues, first author Kathryn Allaway, revealing how two key cell types in the brain’s cortex arise from a single progenitor in mice, as well as shedding light on genetic and molecular factors that allow these two populations to develop different identities.

Massachusetts General Hospital News article on new research from the labs of Christiane Wrann, Rudolph Tanzi, and Bruce Spiegelman, co-first authors Mohammad Islam and Sophia Valaris, demonstrating for the first time that irisin, the cleaved and circulating form of the exercise-induced membrane protein FNDC5, is sufficient to confer the benefits of exercise on cognitive function.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center press release on new research from the lab of Mark Andermann, first author Stephen X. Zhang, uncovering the precise hypothalamic neurons that regulate the drive to engage in mating behaviors in mice.

Graduate student Ya'el Courtney (lab of Maria Lehtinen, Boston Children's Hospital) shares her story about navigating a difficult adolescence, facing financial challenges, and her journey to graduate school and neuroscience research.

Boston Children's Hospital Answers article on new research from Christopher A. Walsh and colleagues, first author Richard Smith, linking mutations in the gene ATP1A3 to polymicrogyria, a disease causing irregular folds and disorganized layering in the cortex, often resulting in severe developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Boston Children's Hospital Answers article on new research from Edward Smith and colleagues, first author Julie Sesen, showing that the levels of a specific protein detected through a patient’s urine can track a tumor’s size and responsiveness to treatment in children with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG).

MGH Press Release on new research from from Natalia Rost and colleagues, first author Anna Katharina Bonkhoff, demonstrating that brain lesions in regions subserving motor and language functions help explain stroke severity in both men and women, however more widespread lesion patterns are relevant in female patients.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Gordon Fishell, Beth Stevens, Sandeep Robert Datta, and colleagues, first author Emilia Favuzzi, identifying the immune cells that sculpt inhibitory neurons and regulate brain wiring.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Filip Swirski, Rudolph Tanzi, and colleagues, first author Cameron McAlpine, suggesting that Interleukin-3 from astrocytes may reprogram immune responses in the brain that cause cell death and lead to dementia.

Maria Sundberg shares new research from the lab of Mustafa Sahin on the role of a small piece of chromosome 16, called the 16p11.2 locus, in disease phenotypes of dopaminergic neurons. The team identified that RhoA pathway activation led to network dysfunction in 16p11.2 deletion neurons. Its inhibitor, Rhosin, rescued the hyperactivity of these neuronal networks. In the future, the RhoA pathway and its inhibitors may serve as potential therapeutic targets.

Ken Tao and Brad Lowell share a new study characterizing vagal motor neurons that innervate the digestive system. This work demonstrates a labeled-line model of the vagus motor nerve where genetically-defined subtypes of vagal motor neurons project to specific regions of the digestive system and engage neurochemically-distinct subtypes of enteric neurons.

Stephen Zhang shares new research from the labs of Mike Crickmore and Dragana Rogulja showing that young male flies have functional courtship circuitry, but the motivation to mate is suppressed by a hormone until maturity.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from the lab of Paola Arlotta and colleagues at the Broad Institute, co-first authors Daniela Di Bella and Ehsan Habibi, combining single-cell genomic technologies to create an atlas for studying cellular diversification in the developing mouse cortex.

Harvard Gazette article announcing the founding of the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics at Massachusetts General Hospital, to be led by Jerrold Rosenbaum.

Lili Xie shares new research from the lab of Larry Benowitz showing that the chemokine CCL5 promotes optic nerve regeneration and mediates many of the beneficial effects of Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) gene therapy.

HMS News article on new research from Rudolph Tanzi and colleagues, first author Raja Bhattacharyya, discovering how amyloid beta—the neurotoxin believed to be at the root of Alzheimer’s disease—forms in axons and related structures that connect neurons in the brain, where it causes the most damage.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

Rachel Monyak and Edward Kravitz share new research characterizing a line of masculinized female flies that switches its style of fighting based on the sex of its opponent. This work furthers our understanding of factors that initiate fighting and offers clues as to why flies use male or female aggressive strategies.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Rakesh K. Jain and colleagues, co-first authors Zohreh Amoozgar, Jonas Kloepper, and Jun Ren, retraining tumor-promoting immune cells to fight most aggressive type of brain cancer.

Neil Dani & Maria Lehtinen share new research done with Rebecca Herbst, Naomi Habib & Aviv Regev at the Broad Institute. Using single cell & nucleus sequencing, coupled with tissue-level mapping, they have generated the first cellular and spatial atlas of the choroid plexus blood-CSF barrier. This addresses a historical blind spot by characterizing the core cell types, subtypes, their spatial organization and diversity across brain regions of the developing, adult, and aging mouse brain.

Erin Johnson-Venkatesh and Hisashi Umemori share their work trying to understand why X-linked PCDH19-related disorder occurs only in females, and not males – when the opposite is typical for most disorders emanating from mutations on the X-chromosome. They find that inactivation of one copy of Pcdh19 results in a molecular mismatch at hippocampal synapses, leading to functional impairments in female, but not male mice.

HMS News article on new research from Jochen Lennerz and colleagues uncovering the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind cold-induced tooth pain and hypersensitivity.

HMS News article on new research from Stephen Liberles and Nao Horio into the neurobiology that underlies food attraction and how hungry mice choose to pay attention to one object in their environment over another.

Carlos Manlio Díaz-García and Gary Yellen share new research on how neurons cope with moment-to-moment energy demands during bouts of intense activity. Precise coordination of energy production with brain activity is crucial for healthy brain function.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from the lab of Christina Woo, first author Yun Ge, on the development of a new highly-selective tool to study proteins through the sugars they depend on.

HMS News article highlighting a new project from Max Heiman, Keith Blackwell, and Monica Colaiácovo, looking into why some species of wild Caenorhabditis elegans are able to thrive in in high temperature environments.

HMS News article on new research from K. Frank Austen and Isaac Chiu, first author Tiphaine Voisin, suggesting that cysteine leukotriene receptor 2 (CysLT2R) may be a new target for designing treatments to target intractable chronic itch.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Connie Cepko, first author Yunlu Xue, marking an important first step in developing a gene therapy to treat retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, an inherited form of progressive blindness that affects around 20 million people worldwide.

Harvard Catalyst interview with Paulo Lizano, a neuropsychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Ya-Chieh Hsu, Amar Sahay, and colleagues, first author Sekyu Choi, identifying the biological mechanism by which chronic stress impairs hair follicle stem cells, confirming long-standing observations that stress might lead to hair loss.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Bradley Hyman and colleagues, co-first authors Susanne Wegmann and Sarah L. DeVos, applying a genetic engineering strategy to dramatically reduce levels of tau — a key protein that accumulates and becomes tangled in the brain during the development of Alzheimer’s disease — in an animal model of the condition.

Jing Peng and Ivan Santiago share new research revealing a temporally precise transcriptional cascade that orchestrates the assembly of synaptic layers in the fly visual system. This story is a special piece honoring the memory of their mentor Matt Pecot, who sadly passed away in 2019, with words of remembrance in addition to the scientific update.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Min Dong, David Liu, and colleagues, first author Travis Blum, on the potential of botulinum toxin therapies to aid in neuroregeneration, regulating growth hormones, calming rampant inflammation, or dampening cytokine storms.

Katrin Vogt shares new research from the lab of Aravi Samuel identifying how feeding state-dependent neuronal modulations affect processing of olfactory information and olfactory choice behavior in Drosophila larvae.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from Naomi Pierce and colleagues, first author Marjorie A. Liénard, describing a novel method for isolating opsins, light-sensitive proteins found in the eyes of insects, and detailing their molecular history, structure, and function to determine what colors an insect can see.

HMS News article on research from the labs of David Corey and Wesley Wong, first author Eric Mulhall, providing new insight into the functioning of the tip link—the tiny apparatus of hair cells in the ear that converts auditory signals into electrical ones.

Harvard Gazette article on research probing the molecular basis for the stinging response in sea anemones and jellyfish, and identifying how these organisms detect and filter cues from the environment when making the decision to sting or not sting. From the labs of Nicholas Bellono, Amy Lee and colleagues, first author Keiko Weir. 

MCB News article highlighting recent radio show and podcast interviews featuring HBI co-director Venkatesh Murthy, discussing the neuroscience of olfaction.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from the MGH Center for Genomic Medicine, from the team of Marta Garaulet, Richa Saxena and colleagues, co-first authors Hassan S. Dashti and Iyas Daghla, demonstrating that how often a person takes daytime naps, if at all, is partly regulated by their genes.

Congratulations to Masahito Yamagata, Isle Bastille, Kadir Ozkan, Carla Carol Winter, Ayush Noori, and Clara Muñoz-Castro

Stephanie Rudolph shares new research she performed while a postdoc in Wade Regehr's lab showing that the cerebellum can regulate behavior in a sex-specific manner. She found that deletion of a hormone-sensitive GABA receptor subunit from the cerebellum resulted in increased stress-related behaviors in female but not male mice. Future research targeting these GABA receptors may help identify therapeutic approaches for sex-biased neurodevelopmental & psychiatric disorders involving the cerebellum

Yusuke Fukuda from the lab of Rosalind Segal shares new work identifying and exploring the function of an RNA-binding protein called SFPQ, which selectively binds to KIF5A--a kinesin motor protein in axons which is frequently mutated in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community

Pint-Sized Science, a podcast of Science in the News, features HBI co-director Venkatesh Murthy. In an interview with graduate students Ana-Andreea Stoica (Columbia Univ) and Anastasia Repouliou (Harvard Univ), Murthy discusses our sense of smell—why it matters, how it works, and what are some of the big questions in olfaction research today.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Wei-Chung Allen Lee and colleagues, co-first authors Jasper Phelps, David Grant Colburn Hildebrand, and Brett J. Graham, on the development of GridTape, an automated electron microscopy system enabling comprehensive, high-resolution imaging of large neural circuits.

Suk Joon Lee shares new research from the Sabatini lab on the use of fluorescence lifetime photometry to monitor activity in the neurons of a mouse performing a reward-based learning task. Their findings provide in-vivo evidence for the presumed connection between the neurotransmitter dopamine and the enzyme protein kinase A (PKA), linked to synaptic plasticity, in the basal ganglia.

Miguel Turrero García and Corey Harwell share new research exploring how chromatin modifications in neural stem cells can shape the formation of complex circuits in the cerebral cortex.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

Krissy Lyon describes a new study from the lab of Susan Dymecki, examining how serotonin-producing neurons and dopamine interact in the brainstem to modulate mouse behaviors, and how this might differ in males versus females.

How do we perceive the reachable world? Emilie Josephs shares a recent study from the lab of Talia Konkle suggesting different brain representations for processing near-scale environments, far-scale environments, and single objects.

Xin Jin, working with the teams of Paola Arlotta, Feng Zhang, Aviv Regev and Joshua Levin, shares the development of in vivo Perturb-Seq, a high-content and scalable method to study cohorts of risk genes implicated in brain disorders.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

BCH Discoveries article on new research from the labs of Judith Steen and Hanno Steen, co-first authors Hendrik Wesseling and Waltraud Mair. They find that the Tau protein looks very different at different stages of Alzheimer's disease, undergoing a series of chemical changes over time. This discovery suggests that multiple Alzheimer's drugs may be needed, to target different disease stages.

BCH Discoveries article on new research from the lab of Zhigang He, joint first authors Yi Li, Xuelian He, and Riki Kawaguchi. They studied recovery from spinal cord injury in neonatal mice and found that microglia cells play a crucial role in the healing process.

Klaus Schmitz and Kyriacos Markianos share a powerful method for identifying important noncoding regions in the human genome—revealing the potential significance of gene regulation in cognitive and social function.

Jin Cui, Frederick Shipley, Neil Dani, Mark Andermann, and Maria Lehtinen share new research from the Andermann and Lehtinen labs revealing the secretory and calcium dynamics of ChP epithelial cells, which are responsible for secreting CSF and its principal components, as well as movements and functions of macrophages, which represent the largest class of immune cells residing in the ChP.

Jaeeon Lee shares new research from the lab of Bernardo Sabatini confirming that distinct pathways of the basal ganglia remain segregated in all the output nuclei of the basal ganglia when sensory information is transformed to motor commands.

Sarah Roehrich, a speech-language pathologist who works in Lowell, MA, shares an article she’s written for the Wise Brain Bulletin. Spanning basic science, education and clinical research, Roehrich’s article describes how experiences influence brain development from infancy through early childhood. Her piece highlights the plasticity research of Takao Hensch and others, and discusses outreach activities led by Hensch’s NIMH Silvio Conte Center for Mental Health.

MCB News piece on new research from the Bellono lab, first author Lena van Giesen, uncovering the molecular basis of chemotactile sensation in octopuses.

Harvard Gazette article on new findings from MGH researchers, showing how genetic mutations that promote the growth of the most common type of adult brain tumors can be accurately detected and monitored in blood samples using an enhanced form of liquid biopsy. First author Koushik Muralidharan, co-senior authors Leonora Balaj and Bob S. Carter.

Harvard Health Publishing article discussing recent findings by the AARP on the impact of music on cognitive and emotional well-being.

Aaron Kuan of Wei-Chung Lee’s lab discusses a new method for mapping neural circuits, which allows quicker imaging of volumes of tissue that are currently too large for comprehensive electron microscopy analysis.

Chiara Maffei writes about Science Rehashed, a podcast dedicated to making science free and easily accessible for anyone with an internet connection.

HMS News article on how new research into a newly discovered primate brain cell type could improve studies on neuropsychiatric disease. From the labs of Stephen McCarroll, Guoping Feng, Gordon Fishell, Sabina Berretta, Leslie Kean, Chris Walsh and several others, first author Fenna Krienen.

Chris Chen of Wade Regehr's lab shares new research on ephaptic coupling--a unique form of neuronal communication that is not mediated by chemicals or physical connections--in the cerebellum.

Nicole Scott-Hewitt shares new research from the labs of Beth Stevens and colleagues, providing mechanistic insight into how microglia mediate developmental synapse pruning.

Hajnalka “Sunny” Nyitrai shares new research from the lab of Pascal Kaeser addressing how neurons transport material to the synapse and how they ensure delivery to the appropriate destinations.

Michael Do shares new findings from his lab on the question of why humans and other primates see more sharply than other mammals.

Caroline Palavicino-Maggio writes about the Journal of Emerging Investigators Mini PhD Camp, a unique program introducing underserved middle and high school students to the sciences, how to conduct research, and how to write scientific papers.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

Harvard Medicine Magazine article showcasing many beautiful images taken by members of the lab of David Ginty at HMS showing cutaneous sensory neurons in action.

Harvard Gazette article on new machine learning models that are able to predict how much time aging mice have left from David Sinclair and colleagues, co-first authors Michael B. Schultz, Alice E. Kane. Also featured in HMS News.

Corey Harwell was interviewed for a SFN Neuronline feature on diversifying the field through mentorship and scientific exposure.

Liang Liang, Mark Andermann and Chinfei Chen discuss new findings suggesting that the modulation of visual responses to certain stimuli can occur at very early stages of visual processing, when visual signals first enter the brain.

HMS News article on research from principal investigator Ula Jurkunas and colleagues on a new stem cell technique that offers hope for those with corneal damage.

Gwenaelle Geleoc shares her lab's new research into improving hearing and balance in mice. They targeted an Acadian human mutation in a gene essential for hearing and vision using local applications of antisense oligonucleotides.

Will Renthal & Ivan Tochitsky share recent work from Renthal & Woolf labs, suggesting that transcription factors induced early after peripheral nerve injury confer the cellular plasticity required for damaged sensory neurons to regenerate their axons

Shen-Bin Liu shares new research from the lab of Qiufu Ma and colleagues on the neurobiology of acupuncture, suggesting it may help treat fatal systemic inflammation in patients with severe infections or for those receiving immune therapy.

Wenjun Yan shares three new papers from the lab of Josh Sanes using high throughput single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) in order to better understand cell types in the anterior segment and the retina of the human eye.

Harvard Gazette article recapping a recent Zoom seminar with author and Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer and Professor of the Practice of Non-Fiction, Michael Pollan discusses his latest work on the world’s most-used psychoactive substance.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Isaac Kohane and colleagues, co-first authors Yuan Luo and Alal Eran, revealing a subtype of autism associated with lipid abnormalities.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

Grigori Guitchounts shares new research from the lab of David Cox showing that movement information in the visual cortex is far richer than previously known.

Aditi Banerjee shares new research from the lab of Pascal Kaeser demonstrating that Synaptotagmin-1 acts as the fast calcium sensor to support dopamine release.

Myung-Gyu Choi and Yun Zhang share new research on C. elegans providing the first set of findings that demonstrate the causal role of gap junction plasticity in regulating learning in behavior.

Tatsuo Okubo shares new research from the lab of Rachel Wilson describing a pathway connecting mechanoreceptors to compass neurons, in addition to how mechanosensory signals are transformed within this pathway.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Sandeep Robert Datta and colleagues, co-first authors David H. Brann, Tatsuya Tsukahara, and Caleb Weinreb, demonstrating that olfactory support cells are vulnerable to novel coronavirus infection.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of M. Charles Liberman, first author Pei-zhe Wu, on a new study that uncovers damage to hair cells as an underlying cause of age-related hearing loss.

Adam Granger shares new research from the labs of Bernardo Sabatini, Chenghua Gu, and Corey Harwell demonstrating that ChAT-expressing interneurons are able to specialize which neurotransmitters they release onto different downstream target neurons.

Alexandra Vaccaro and Yosef Kaplan Dor describe new research from the labs of Dragana Rogulja and Mike Greenberg identifying the gut as a major site of impact when sleep is severely suppressed.

New research from the lab of Sam Gershman proposes that contexts correspond to hidden states of the environment, and that place cells track beliefs about the hidden state, such that remapping occurs when these beliefs change.

HMS News article on a new study from the labs of Matthew Harris and colleagues at Duke University Medical Center and the University of Kansas, bolstering confidence that fish can provide useful models of human spine biology and disorders.

BCH Discoveries article on new research from the labs of Jeffrey Holt, David Liu, and colleagues at the Broad and MIT, co-first authors Wei-Hsi Yeh and Olga Shubina-Oleinik, restoring hearing in deaf mice using a new genetic engineering technique.

A conversation with Lisa Goodrich, professor of neurobiology at HMS, in Harvard Medicine Magazine.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from the labs of Paola Arlotta, Leonard Zon and Jeff Lichtman, first author James Harris, exploring how precise control over neuron growth might pave the way for repairing nervous system injuries.

New research from the lab of Michael Greenberg, co-first authors Sinisa Hrvatin and Senmiao Sun, discovering the neurons that control hibernation-like behaviors in mice.

BCH Discoveries article on new research from the labs of Jeffrey Holt, David Liu, & colleagues at the Broad and MIT (co-first authors Wei-Hsi Yeh & Olga Shubina-Oleinik). They used a new genetic engineering technique to restore hearing in deaf mice.

Harvard Medicine Magazine article sharing the perspectives of Xavier du Maine and four other HMS students on how the 2020 pandemic has affected their lives and research.

Prof. Venki Murthy will assume the directorship of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard on July 1st. We are pleased to announce that he will accordingly assume the position of co-director for HBI at that time.

New research from Arthur Sugden and colleagues in the lab of Mark Andermann examines how the brain changes during learning in mice—specifically, how the cortex replays neural activity patterns linked to recent sensory experiences.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Tomas Kirchhausen & colleagues, co-first authors Mootaz Salman, Philip Kitchen, & Andrea Halsey, demonstrating that a drug that reduces swelling may help protect against brain and spinal cord injury.

Round up of awards and honors earned by the HBI community.

Skyler Jackman and colleagues in the lab of Wade Regehr provide strong evidence that the cerebellum regulates aggression & suggest that genetically-tractable mice can be used to better define the neurons and activity patterns modulating aggression.

New findings by Mike Wallace and colleagues in the Sabatini lab suggest that the habenula contains distinct sub-circuits that control two neuromodulatory centers important for mood, motivation, and depression. 

A new study from Keiko Weir and colleagues in lab of Nicholas Bellono, addresses the question of how single nematocytes detect and filter diverse cues from their environment to control when (and when not) to sting.

A collaborative study from the Crickmore & Rogulja labs showing that the quick onset and slow decay of CaMKII’s kinase activity is used by the male fly to know when he’s been mating long enough to transfer sperm to the female fly.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from the lab of Kevin Eggan, first author Aaron Burberry, identifying a gut-brain connection in mice with a common ALS genetic mutation.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Steven McCarroll and colleagues, first author Nolan Kamitaki, pinpointing genes underlying sex biases in autoimmune disorders and schizophrenia.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Stephen Liberles, co-first authors Sara Prescott and Benjamin Umans, identifying rare throat-innervating sensory neurons that guard upper airways against threats.

MCB news article on new research from the lab of Venkatesh Murthy on recent developments in reinforcement learning in mice.

Harvard Gazette article where the Chan School’s Karestan Koenen discusses rising mental health concerns in the coronavirus era.

Harvard Gazette article summarizing a recent Chan School forum led by Donn Posner, who says problem is becoming more common, and offers tips for falling and staying asleep.

Preliminary research from the lab of Bob Datta, joint first authors David Brann, Tatsuya Tsukahara, and Caleb Weinreb, examines cell types in the olfactory epithelium that might mediate infection by SARS- CoV-2, the causal agent in COVID-19.

HMS News article highlighting how Longwood Chorus members create community through song, with quotes from Christopher Chen, postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Wade Regehr, David Mazumder, graduate student in the lab of Gabriel Kreiman and several othe

Harvard Gazette article on new research from the labs of Mark Fishman and colleagues, exploring how genes related to psychiatric conditions can influence group behavior in zebrafish.

MCB News article on new research from the labs of Venkatesh Murthy and Beth Stevens, first author Jenelle Wallace, suggesting that microglial regulation of adult-born neuron development could contribute to ongoing plasticity in the olfactory system.

MCB News article on new research from the lab of Jeff Lichtman, first author Josh Morgan, using serial section EM to map the hundreds of synaptic inputs and outputs of a single inhibitory interneuron in the mouse thalamus.

A monthly round-up of awards and honors earned by Harvard-affiliated faculty, students, and staff.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Jacob Hooker, first author Nicole Zürcher, showing abnormally low levels of a key protein observed in brains of young men with autism spectrum disorder.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Chenghua Gu and Bernardo Sabatini, first authors Brian Chow and Vicente Nunez, revealing how the brain and arteries communicate to increase blood flow for neural activity.

Harvard Gazette article highlighting stem cell models of human spine development, coming from new research from the lab of Olivier Pourquié (co-first authors Margarete Diaz-Cuadros and Daniel E. Wagner).

BIDMC News article on new research from the lab of Mark Andermann (first author Yoav Livneh) shedding new light on interoception.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Jeremy Gunawardena, co-first authors Joseph P. Dexter and Sudhakaran Prabakaran, hinting at complex decision making in a single-cell organism.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Zheng Yi-Chen, joint first authors Yilai Shu, Wenyan Li, Mingqian Huang, and Yi-Zhou Quan, introducing a new strategy to reprogram and regenerate inner-ear cells.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Isaac Chiu and colleagues, first author Nicole Y. Lai, demonstrating in mice that the nervous system is able to detect and actively defend against Salmonella.

Harvard Gazette article profiling McLean's Spirituality and Mental Health program, directed by David H. Rosmarin.

New research from the labs of Joshua Sanes, Zhigang He and colleagues provides novel insights into the CNS injury response of axons and how it might be improved.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Rachel Wilson, first author Yvette Fisher, on virtual reality experiments that reveal how visual cues reorganize direction-sensing 'compass neurons' in fruit flies.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Bernardo Sabatini and colleagues on the development of a new light-based method to capture and pinpoint the epicenter of neural activity in the brain. 

HMS News article on the first evidence of immune response targeting specialized brain cells in autism. From a postmortem study of human brains, from the lab of Matthew Anderson, first author Marcello DiStasio.

Harvard University has received a $20 million gift from philanthropists Lisa Yang and Hock Tan, an alumnus of Harvard Business School, to establish The Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research at Harvard Medical School.

Gene linked to rare disorder also regulates key Alzheimer’s enzyme.

Regardless of what genetic mutation causes glioblastoma, it can readily shift among four distinct cell types, each of which may need to be targeted separately.

Hopi Hoekstra was awarded the C. Hart Merriam Award by the American Society of Mammalogists.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Rudolph Tanzi, first author Ana Griciuc, on how crosstalk between certain microglial receptors regulates neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of David Corey, Jeffrey Holt and Gwenaëlle Géléoc. They used a newly optimized gene-editing tool to prevent hearing loss in mice with hereditary deafness without detectable off-target effects.

McLean's Deborah Levy and colleagues provide a proof-of-principle demonstration of symptom relief by targeting a specific genotype and links an individual structural mutation to the pathophysiology of psychosis and treatment response.

Digital devices can interfere with everything from sleep to creativity

How one species of bacteria consumes the primary treatment for Parkinson’s disease could reveal more about how the microbiome impacts our health.

the Dean’s Community Service Award was established in 1999 to recognize individuals whose dedication and commitment to community service have made a positive impact on the local, national, or international community.

He is profiled in the June 2019 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Harvard Gazette Q+A with Anne Harrington about her new book documenting the rise of biological psychiatry.

Lucas is a postdoc in the lab of Anne Takesian at Mass Eye and Ear.

Jeffrey Moffitt and Alan Brown, faculty at HMS and Boston Children's Hospital, are among 22 earlier career researchers selected by Pew Charitable Trusts to join the Pew Scholars Program in Biomedical Sciences.

As dean for graduate education, Segal will be responsible for the strategy, oversight and coordination of graduate education at HMS,

Harvard Gazette article highlighting Paola Arlotta's lab's research into reproducible, miniature 3D models of human brain tissue and describing how these models open new frontiers in neuroscience.

Harvard Gazette story highlighting technology from the lab of Adam Cohen (first author Yoav Adam), which enables a live broadcast of optical recordings from multiple neurons in the hippocampus of mice as they walk.

Dr. Hrvatin aims to understand the neuronal circuits that initiate and regulate this profound hypometabolic state as a means to ultimately harness the potential of these adaptations to develop new medical treatments.

Since 1985, the LEGO® Prize has been awarded to individuals or organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to the lives of children and are champions of learning through play.

The prize, named for MCB faculty John Dowling, honors neuroscience concentrators who produce outstanding thesis work.

The award, presented by the GSAS Graduate Student Council (GSC), recognizes a handful of faculty who go above and beyond in supporting and advising their graduate students.

The NAS Award in Molecular Biology is supported by Pfizer Inc. and recognizes a recent notable discovery by a young scientist who is a citizen of the United States. The award is presented with a medal and a $25,000 prize.

The Harvard College Professorships were launched in 1997 through a gift from John and Frances Loeb. They are five-year appointments that include extra support for research or scholarly activities, and a semester of paid leave or a summer salary.

Awardees are selected from an applicant pool of 1,767 for their potential to make significant contributions to United States society, culture or their academic fields, & will receive up to $90,000 in funding for the graduate program of their choice.

HMS News article highlighting new research from the lab of Kip Connor (first author Yoko Okunuki), on how unraveling microglia’s role in neuroinflammation could improve treatment for visual disorders like uveitis.

The Harvard Brain Science Initiative (HBI) Bipolar Disorder Seed Grant Program supports research relevant to the basic understanding and eventual treatment of bipolar disorder.

Congratulations to Bill Carlezon, Kerry Ressler, Elena Chartoff, Vadim Bolshakov, Edward Meloni, Isabelle Rosso, Scott Rauch, Sabina Berretta & colleagues!

Cindy Chau (‘19) and Mark Czeisler (‘19), have been awarded prestigious fellowships from the Office of Undergraduate Research Fellowships and Australian-American Fulbright Commission respectively.

Congratulations to Kritika Gupta (Lab of Phillipe Cluzel), Nathan Lord (Lab of Alex Schier), Athar Malik (Lab of Nao Uchida), Annika Nichols (Lab of Alex Schier), and Yasuyo Tanaka (Lab of Nao Uchida).

He was honored for his world-leading research in global mental health and his pioneering approaches for the prevention and treatment of mental health in low-resource settings.

Congratulations to Barbara Kahn, Ronald Kessler, Jeremy Wolfe, and Danesh Moazed.

Stat News article describing how the origins of a collaboration between Clifford Woolf, Bruce Bean, along with later input from Bruce Levy, sparked the creation of a biotech start-up aimed at developing a treatment for chronic cough and pain.

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have successfully cleared patient-derived brain cells of an abnormal protein associated with dementia and other neurogenerative disorders.

Bees and ants have begun to play key roles in neuroscience research. At Harvard alone, at least five labs have recently turned to these non-traditional model organisms to answer questions about social and navigational behaviors.

MGH research finds chemical pathway from lack of shut-eye to atherosclerosis.

Jeffrey Holt and Nicte Mejia among four honored with Scholars in Medicine Excellence in Mentoring Award at the 79th annual Soma Weiss day.

Charles Lieber and his colleagues published a paper on neural probes that are less detectable by the human brain and may be more effective in treatment.

Stephen Zhang, a neuroscience graduate student in the labs of Michael Crickmore and Dragana Rogulja, was awarded a 2019 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

This award is the highest honor given by the Learning Disabilities Association of America. It's given annually in recognition of and appreciation for outstanding leadership at the national level.

Once seen as the nerve cells’ foot soldier, the axon emerges as an independent decision-maker in its own right.

This paper explores what NK cells do in response to nerve injury and how understanding that could lead to better treatments for pain.

HMS News article, on new research from the team of PierPaolo Peruzzi, E. Antonio Chiocca, and colleagues (first author Vivek Bhaskaran), showing how certain microRNAs can weaken brain cancer cells in advance of standard therapy in preclinical models.

New cell model of most common form of Alzheimer’s points to molecular causes, drug target.

This award recognizes an investigator who has made outstanding contributions to the field of immunology in the area of B cell biology.

This award is given by Carnegie Mellon University and recognizes substantial achievements in the natural sciences, engineering, computer science or mathematics.

This award is given by the Sleep Research Society and recognizes individuals who have made noteworthy contributions to sleep and circadian science.

This award is given by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and recognizes work that has significantly contributed to solving the problem of alcoholism.

These awards are given by the National Academy of Science to recognize extraordinary scientific achievements in a wide variety of fields.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Francisco Quintana (BWH) on the role of environmental exposures in neurologic disease.

New York Times article on recent research from the lab of Venkatesh Murthy providing new insight into how ants use their antennas to navigate their world.

Harvard Gazette article highlighting breakthrough studies tracking the development of zebrafish and frog embryos from the labs of Alexander Schier (Harvard), Allon Klein, Sean Megason, and Marc Kirschner.

Along with along with Larry Zipursky, Josh Sanes has been awarded the 2018 Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize for the “discovery of cell-surface proteins that control circuit assembly in the visual system.”

Isaac Chiu and Debora Marks were awarded Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Awards. David Walt and George Church were awarded a Collaborative Science Award by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Qiufu Ma identifying the nerve pathway that drives sustained pain following injury.

In the glimpse of the past provided by organoids, Paola Arlotta sees a chance to shape the future of how we fight neurological disease

Congratulations to Carl Nist-Lund, Bifeng Pan, Jeffrey Abbott, Tianyang Ye, Swathi Ayloo, Brian Wai Chow, and Kevin Sitek. Each winner will receive $200 and a customized desk plaque with their image.

HMS News article on new research from the labs of Beth Stevens and Steven McCarroll on identifying which microglia in the brain are "good" and which are "bad".

They were recognized for scientifically and socially distinguished work

The Department of Systems Biology celebrated the leadership of Marc Kirschner at the first annual Systems Biology Symposium at HMS.

Harvard Gazette article on new research from the labs of Benjamin de Bivort and colleagues, revealing that pesticide exposure can disrupt social behaviors and thermoregulation in bumblebees.

He was honored at the Outstanding Postdoc Fellow Awards Symposium on November 7th.

Catherine Dulac was awarded the 2018 Karl Spencer Lashley Award by the American Philosophical Society.

Harvard Medical School received a transformational gift of $200 million from the The Blavatnik Family Foundation -- the largest gift in the school's history, to accelerate therapeutic discovery and spur scientific advances.

HMS News article on an announcement by the Bertarelli Foundation and HMS of four new collaborative research grants given to Harvard neuroscientists tackling sensory disorders--from hearing loss, deafness and blindness to acute and chronic pain.

The $15,000 award recognizes outstanding achievements and contributions made by young neuroscientists who have demonstrated scholarly independence.

Harvard Gazette article on recent work from the labs of Xiaowei Zhuang, Catherine Dulac and colleagues, creating a first-of-its-kind cellular atlas of an important region in the brains of mice, the hypothalamic preoptic region.

A documentary film from the Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute featuring interview with HBI co-director Mike Greenberg, has won three Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards

Chenghua Gu, along with systems biologist Marc Kirschner and cancer researcher David Weinstock, received the Allen Distinguished Investigator award

HMS News article on recent research from the lab of Joseph El-Khoury about how immune checkpoint therapy may reduce damaging inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases.

HMS News article on new research from the lab of Susan Dymecki and colleagues, suggesting that certain serotonin neurons contribute to a fail-safe necessary for recovery from interrupted breathing in newborn mice

Xiaowei Zhuang was awarded this prize “for discovering hidden structures in cells by developing super-resolution imaging – a method that transcends the fundamental spatial resolution limit of light microscopy.”

Considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

BCH Vector Blog post on new research from the labs of Beth Stevens, Chinfei Chen, Hisashi Umemori and colleagues, identifying a “don’t eat me” signal which prevents microglia from pruning away useful synaptic connections

BCH Vector Blog post on new work from the labs of Mustafa Sahin, Wade Regehr and colleagues, delineating sensitive periods for the treatment of cerebellum-mediated autistic-like behaviors in mice

HMS video in which Rachel Wilson describes how curiosity-driven science influences discovery and impacts human health

The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center at Boston Children’s Hospital celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on October 30th.

Congratulations to Paola Arlotta who was named chair of Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology.

Missteps during brain development can later lead to the onset of neurologic conditions including brain cancers. Paper highlight by Ryann Fame, Morgan Shannon, Maria Lehtinen.

BCH Vector Blog post on recent research on the genes involved in the regulation of brain folding, speech motor development from labs of Maria Lehtinen, Christopher A. Walsh and colleagues.

HMS News article on research from the lab of Bradley T. Hyman and colleagues demonstrating how an Alzheimer’s associated tau protein disrupts molecular transport within neurons.

HMS News article about recent research from the team of Matthias Nahrendorf and colleagues discovering channels connecting skull bone marrow to brain surface.

Boston Children's Hospital Vector blog post about a recent paper from the labs of Christopher A. Walsh and colleagues, unveiling the role of extracellular vesicles in mammalian brain development.

These grants help researchers launch careers in neuroscience and psychiatry and gather pilot data to apply for larger federal and university grants.

Harvard Gazette story on new work from the labs of Jeffrey Holt, David Corey and colleagues, revealing identity of a sensor protein that helps inner ear hair cells translate sound and head movements into electrical signals that the brain can process

HMS News article on a recent study from the lab of Maxwell Heiman suggesting that neuron length must be actively maintained throughout life.

Ana Pereira and Yun Zhang describe a new project that was recently awarded funding from the Dean's Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship

HMS News article highlighting new work on sensory neuron diversity in the inner ear, from the labs of Lisa Goodrich and Charles Liberman at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear

HMS News article highlighting recent publication of a cellular atlas of a mouse brain, from the labs of Steven McCarroll and colleagues.

New work from the labs of Michael Greenberg and Chinfei Chen reveals role of the Fn14 protein in visual experience-dependent synapse refinement