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Neuro Topics
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Harvard researchers are deeply committed to understanding nervous system development and function, in both healthy and disease states. Basic scientists and clinician-researchers work together across departments, programs and centers to study the nervous system from diverse perspectives, as shown in the overlapping subfields below. You can click the boxes below to explore news stories on relevant publications in each area. You can also sort our lab directory by these research areas.

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Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Neurodevelopmental disorders include conditions such as ASD, ADD/ADHD, Rett syndrome, Down syndrome, intellectual disability, and dyslexia.
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Mental Health & Illness
Neuroscientists, psychologists, psychiatrists and others throughout Harvard are engaged in research on psychiatric conditions such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, eating disorders, addiction, PTSD, suicide and self-harm.
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Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive and behavioral neuroscience is an effort to identify the biological basis of thoughts, perceptions, actions, and other mental processes.
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Tools & Technologies
Discoveries in neuroscience are often fueled by technological advances that make it possible for researchers to visualize, measure, or manipulate the nervous system in new ways.
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Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience
Understanding the diverse cell types of nervous systems and the molecules that comprise them is necessary for addressing all the big questions in modern neuroscience.
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Theory & Computation
Theoretical and computational neuroscience provide a quantitative framework for probing the underlying principles of nervous system function and investigating the computations that a nervous system makes.
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Sensory & Motor Systems
Research into the development, function and plasticity of the visual system is an area of strength at Harvard, stemming all the way back to the founding of the Neurobiology Department at Harvard Medical School.
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Neurodegenerative Disease
Neurodegenerative diseases include conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, ALS, and multiple sclerosis.
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Developmental Neuroscience
How the nervous system is formed and how it continues to change throughout life are fundamental questions in neuroscience.
Image Credits

Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Courtesy of Lauren Orefice (MGH/HMS)
Tools and Technology: Courtesy of Barbara Robens, lab of Ann Poduri (BCH)
Sensory and Motor Systems: Courtesy of Lauren Orefice (MGH/HMS)
Mental Health and Illness: Courtesy of Olga Alekseenko, Lab of Susan Dymecki (HMS)
Neurodegenerative Disease: Courtesy of Jeff Lichtman (Harvard) and Takao Hensch (Harvard/BCH)
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience: Courtesy of Isle Bastille, lab of Lisa Goodrich (HMS)
Theory and Computation: Courtesy of Tianyang Ye, lab of Hongkun Park (Harvard)
Development Neuroscience: Courtesy of Katherine Morillo, lab of Christopher A. Walsh (BCH)