Congratulations to Dr. Patricia Janak, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and PBS, who was named a AAAS Fellow!  Also named as AAAS Fellows are Dr. Akira Sawa and Dr. Rejji Kuruvilla, who hold secondary faculty appointments in the Neuroscience Department.   Congrats!!!!

Congratulations to Dr. Karina Chaudhari for winning the 2023 DuBose Postdoctoral Research Scholar Award!  Dr. Chaudhari is a Postdoc in Dr. Alex Kolodkin's lab studying direction selective visual circuits.  

Congratulations to Dr. Leah Elias for being awarded a 2023 Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship!  Dr. Elias is a Postdoc in Dr. Seth Blackshaw's lab in the Department of Neuroscience.  

Excerpt from Jane Coffin Childs Press Release:

The Jane Coffin Childs Fund for Medical Research Names its 2023 Fellows

Twenty-seven exceptional postdoctoral fellows selected as awardees to esteemed fellowship program in biomedical research.

Fellows are funded for a three-year term and receive flexible stipend support.

“The Jane Coffin Childs Fund welcomes the 2023 cohort of Fellows to our distinguished network of scientists around the world and are proud to be able to advance the careers of these exceptional individuals.”  said Anita Pepper, Ph.D., the JCC’s executive director.

Congratulations to Dr. Amy Bastian, primary member of the Neuroscience Department and Chief Science Officer at the Kennedy Kreiger Institute, for her election to the National Academy of Sciences!  

Congratulations to Dr. Xinzhong Dong, primary faculty member in the Neuroscience Department, for his election into the 2022 class of fellows in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  

The 2022 class of fellows will receive a certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin (representing science and engineering, respectively) to commemorate their election and will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., in summer 2023. They will also be featured in the AAAS News & Notes section of Science in February 2023.

Congratulations to Dr. Richard Huganir, Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Department, for being awarded the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience in 2022. He was honored with this award at the Society for Neuroscience meeting November 14th, 2022. 

Congratulations to Dr. Alex Kolodkin, Professor of Neuroscience, for being elected to the National Academy of Sciences!

Link to the announcement. 

Dr. Solange Brown, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 Hamilton Smith Award for Innovative Research in the Institute for Basic Biomedical Science (IBBS) at the Johns Hopkins Medical School. 

The Hamilton Smith award recognizes and advances innovative research by early career faculty members in the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences by providing them with funding to pursue their most creative ideas.

The 2022 Hamilton Smith Award for Innovative Research 
is being presented to:
Dr. Solange Brown
Associate Professor Department of Neuroscience 

Dr. Brown’s research focuses on the development and function of neural circuits and the behaviors that they control in the mammalian brain.  Dr. Brown and her students have defined the cellular and circuit organization of layer 6 of the cerebral cortex, showing how inhibitory interneurons integrate thalamic and local synaptic inputs.   More recently, the Brown laboratory has shown, by recording neural activity and by chemogenetic silencing in awake and behaving mice, that the claustrum, a subcortical nucleus with extensive connections to the neocortex, plays an important role in selecting appropriate motor actions.

Congratulations to Thomas Burnett (graduate student in the O'Connor/Nielsen lab) and Gian Molina-Castro (graduate student in the Bergles lab) for being inducted into the Johns Hopkins University 2022 class of the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society!  Only 5 graduate students from all of Johns Hopkins were chosen for this prestigious honor! 

Thomas and Gian will be officially inducted at the national ceremony at the National Bouchet Honor Society Induction Ceremony and Conference hosted by Yale University (this year virtually), on April 7-8, 2022.

Johns Hopkins will have an induction ceremony with the JHU President and Provost on May 17th 2022. 

Congratulations to Dr. Alex Kolodkin, a primary member in the Neuroscience Department, for being awarded a Research to End Blindness Stein Innovation Award!

The Stein Award from the RPB provides unrestricted funding focused on visual system research in health and disease.  Dr. Kolodkin is one of 40 researchers who have received the award since it was established in 2014. Research in Dr. Kolodkin’s laboratory funded by this RBP award will be focused on investigating novel roles of mechcanotransduction channels in visual system development and in inherited diseases that compromise eye movement in response to image motion.

More information about RPB grants program can be found here:  www.rpbusa.org

Information about the RPB Stein Innovation Award can be found here: https://www.rpbusa.org/rpb/grants-and-research/grants/grants-for-individuals/stein-innovation-awards/

Congrats to Gian Molina-Castro, a Neuroscience PhD student in Dr. Dwight Bergles lab, for winning a 2021 Career Impact Award!  

Tune into the Career Impact Awards Ceremony on December 2, 2021 @ 1:00 p.m. (ET).  Register to attend on Zoom here!

Congratulations to Gian Molina-Castro, Graduate Student in Dwight Bergles' lab, who has been awarded a Diversity Leadership Award, one of 14 awarded across the University by the Diversity Leadership Council. 

Here is the link to the Hub article which also includes a link to register for the Awards Ceremony at 3 pm on Tuesday, September 28 (today).  

https://hub.jhu.edu/at-work/2021/09/24/dlc-awards/

Congratulations to Dr. Angelika Doetzlhofer, a primary faculty member in the Department of Neuroscience, for being chosen as the winner of the 2021 Hamilton Smith Award for Innovative Research!  

Congratulations to the following graduate student and postdoctoral members of the Neuroscience Department for their Young Investigators’ Day awards!
https://hopkinsyidp.org

Congratulations to Dr. Daeyeol Lee, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience and Psychological and Brain Sciences, for being selected as the 2021 recipient of the Samsung Ho-am Prize in Medicine!    

News story: http://www.hoamfoundation.org/eng/award/thisyear_view.asp?idx=442

Distinguished Professor Daeyeol Lee is an international authority in neuroscience. Professor Lee identified neural mechanisms of decision-making by incorporating economics into neuroscientific research using nonhuman primates as subjects. Widely considered the father of neuroeconomics, he integrated a range of academic disciplines that improve understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders and offer more possibilities for treatment.

Congratulations to Riley Bannon, a Neuroscience Graduate student in Dr. Peter Calabresi's lab, for being selected for a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Award!  

Congratulations to Dr. Dwight Bergles, a primary member of the Neuroscience Department, who is the 2020 winner of the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research.

Full details in the link. 

Congratulations to Dr. Alex Kolodkin, Primary member in the Neuroscience Department, for being elected into the National Academy of Medicine today!

Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Alex Kolodkin, PhD, Charles J. Homcy and Simeon G. Margolis Professor, Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. For his leadership in neural development research relating to the establishment of neuronal connectivity. He is known for his work on neuronal guidance cues and their receptors, the discovery of semaphorins, and unveiling guidance cue roles in neural circuit assembly and function in insects and mammals.

Full article: https://nam.edu/national-academy-of-medicine-elects-100-new-members-2020/

Congratulations to Dr. Hyungbae Kwon, a Primary member of the Neuroscience Department, for receiving a 2020 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award.  

More information about the Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award, and this year's other winners, can be found here. 

The Neuroscience Program and Department are proud of all our amazing Graduate students. 

Congratulations to the following who were honored with awards at the School of Medicine 2020 Convocation Ceremony:

THE MICHAEL A. SHANOFF RESEARCH AWARD 

The award is made annually to a student for significant research contribution in the medical sciences. The award is made possible by a bequest from the family and friends of the late Dr. Michael A. Shanoff, who earned his undergraduate degree and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Johns Hopkins University. Awarded to

David Joshua Ottenheimer 2019-2020 (Neuroscience graduate student in Patricia Janak's lab)

Selamawit Abi Woldemeskel 2018-2019

SYLVAN SHANE PRIZE IN ANESTHESIOLOGY AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

This prize, established by Dr. Sylvan Shane, a former member of the faculty in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, recognizes an outstanding medical student making a career choice in Anesthesiology. Awarded to

Tymoteusz Jan Kajstura (Neuroscience graduate student in David Linden's lab).

DAVID E. ROGERS AWARD

This award was established by the Johns Hopkins Health System, in honor of David E. Rogers, Dean of the School of Medicine from 1968-1971. The award is presented annually to two students who have exemplified the highest standards of professionalism, medical ethics, and community leadership. Awarded to

Kevin Monk (Neuroscience graduate student in Marshal Hussain Shuler's Lab)

Jose Reyes

Video: https://youtu.be/PMWWXiCNmwE

Congratulations to David Ottenheimer, a Neuroscience student in Patricia Janak's lab, who was selected as the graduate student speaker for Convocation 2020!  

Watch his speech here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvhABons3a8&feature=youtu.be&t=560

Congratulations to the following Grad Students and Postdocs in the Neuroscience Department recognized with Young Investigators' Day Awards:

Graduate Student Awards

Congratulations to Dr. Gül Dölen, a Primary member in the Neuroscience department, for being selected as a Finalist for the 2020 President's Frontier Award! As one of the two finalists, she recieves a $50,000 presidential award. 

Congratulations to Dr. Blackshaw, a primary member in the Neuroscience Department, for being selected as a Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) Stein Innovation award recipient. 

The award provides flexible funding to scientists actively engaged in research with the goal of understanding the visual system and the diseases the comprise its function, with a focus on new technologies and cutting-edge research techniques.  Dr. Blackshaw is one of 33 researchers who have received the award since it was established in 2014.

The research in Dr. Blackshaw's lab funded through the award will be focused on replacing human photoreceptors lost due to blinding diseases.  His research group's plan is to develop molecular approaches to convert human retinal glia into neural progenitors, which can then give rise to new photoreceptors.  

Congatulations to Project Bridge Johns Hopkins for being awarded the 2019 Next Generation Award at SfN.  The Next Generation Award recognizes SfN chapter members who have made outstanding contributions to public communication, outreach, and education about neuroscience. 

Project Bridge Johns Hopkins is an organization run by Graduate Students aimed at exposing underrepresented minorities to neuroscience research.  

Congratulations to Dr. King-Wai Yau who was chosen as the 2019 Beckman-Argyros Vision Research Award winner!

Congratulations to Dr. Jeremiah Cohen for receiving a 2019 Catalyst Award!

Full Story @The Hub:  https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/06/06/33-receive-catalyst-awards/

Congratulations to Dr. Richard Huganir who was awarded the 2019 Edward M. Scolnick Prize by the McGovern Institute for his role in understanding the molecular and biochemical underpinnings of synaptic plasticity.

Congratulations to Dr. King-Wai Yau  who was elected to the National Academy of Medicine!

Dr. Michela Gallagher has been awarded the 2018 Melvin R. Goodes Prize for Excellence in Alzheimer's Drug Discovery. The prize, awarded by the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, recognizes leading researchers developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Congratulations to Travis Babola and Kevin Monk who were selected as Robert R. Goodman MD PhD Young Scholar Award Winners!  This Award honors neuroscience training program students for their impressive contributions to our scientific community.

Congratulations to Mark Lay, Andrew Scasny, Natalie Hamilton, and Christopher Yang for passing their qualifying exams, and officially becoming PhD candidates!

Graduate Coating Ceremony

Congratulations to Dr. Loyal Goff and Dr. Christopher Potter, Primary faculty members in the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, who were 2 of 32 selected to receive this year's JHU Catalyst Award!  

Congratulations to Drs. Vogelstein and Huganir who were awarded a Schmidt Sciences Nascent Innovation Grant!

Congratulations to Neuroscience Graduate Students Natalie Hamilton (in Dr. Alex Kolodkin's lab) and Jessie Benedict (in Dr. David Linden's lab) who were awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships for 2018!

Congratulations to Kyle Severson, a Neuroscience Graduate Student in Dr. Dan O'Connor's lab, who is one of the 2018 Young Investigators’ Day Winners. He was chosen to receive the The Bae Gyo Jung Research Award.

The Young Investigators’ Day will be held April 17, 2018, at 3 p.m. in the Mountcastle Auditorium in the Preclinical Teaching Building, 725 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205.  

Three primary Neuroscience faculty were chosen to recieve 2017 Synergy Awards:  Dr. Jay Baraban, Dr. Loyal Goff, Dr. Ulrich Mueller.  Dr. Mark Wu, secondary in Neuroscience, was chosen to receive a 2017 Innovation Award.  Congratulations!

Congratulations to the the following Neuroscience Department Faculty members for being selected as 2017 Discovery Award winners! 

      Christopher Potter

      Marshall Schuler

      Ernst Niebur

      Patricia Janak

      Jeremiah Cohen

Congratulations to the following Graduate Student and Postdoc winners of the 2017 Young Inverstigator's Awards!

 Scroll down past the list for more information on our award winning Neuroscience members.

Graduate Students

Jonathan Grima – Jeff Rothstein’s lab

The Paul Ehrlich Research Award

Mutant Huntingtin Disrupts the Nuclear Pore Complex

Kai Liu – Seth Blackshaw’s lab

The Mette Strand Research Award

Lhx6-Expressing GABAergic Neurons of the Zona Incerta Promote Sleep

Shuohao Sun – Xinzhong Dong’s lab

The Alicia Showalter-Reynolds Research Award

Leaky Gate Model:  Intensity-Dependent Coding of Pain and Itch

Postdocs

Graham Diering, PhD -  lab of Richard Huganir

The Daniel Nathans Research Award

Homeostatic Scaling of Excitatory Synapses During Sleep

Sung-Eun (Sam) Kwon, PhD – lab of Daniel H. O’Connor

The Albert Lehninger Research Award

Cortical Circuits for Touch Perception

Congratulations to Neuroscience Graduate students Althea Cavanaugh, David Ottenheimer, and Cody Call who have each been awarded a National Science Foundtation Graduate Research Fellowship for 2017!

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based Master's and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.

SiYing (Sally) Li, a first year graduate student in the Department of Neuroscience, has been selected as the recipient of the 2016-2017 Fred and Ruth Kort Young Scholar Fund.  Fred and Ruth Kort Young established this award to support outstanding first-year graduate students.   

Kai Liu, a Neuroscience Gradaute student in Dr. Seth Blackshaw's lab, has been awarded the Mette Srand Research Award.  He will give a talk and receive his award as part of the Young Investigator's Day Program on May 9th, 2017 from 3-5pm in Mountcastle Auditorium.  This marks the 40th anniversary of the JHMI Young Investigator's Day which highlights talented graduate student and postdoctoral scientists.

The full Young Investigator's Day program will be released soon.  You can view the 2016 Young Investigator winners here. 

Eight recipients of the 2016 Martin Luther King Jr., Community Service Awards were honored at Johns Hopkins’ annual MLK commemoration.

Daniel Pham

Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Like many great ideas, Project Bridge emerged from confusion. Daniel Pham, a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, was unsuccessful in his attempt to describe to his partner the intricacies of his research. The communication breakdown led Pham and colleagues to found Project Bridge, “with the goal of getting scientists to communicate and connect with the public,” he says. The outreach program features talks and demonstrations by Johns Hopkins scientists in farmers markets, cafes and restaurants. In September, Project Bridge brought Baltimore Brain Fest, a daylong neuroscience expo, to a city elementary school. “It’s a very grass-roots approach, getting bystanders to come by and having scientists in the community, explaining rudimentary topics,” Pham says.

Daniel O’Connor was among 102 scientists and engineers named on Jan. 9 by President Obama as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/09/president-obama-honors-federally-funded-early-career-scientists

Xinzhong Dong, PhD., Professor of Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, and Dermatology, and HHMI Investigator received the 2016 Donlin M. Long Pain Service Award on November 2nd.

Alex Kolodkin, Professor of Neuroscience and HHMI investigator, has been appointed the inaugural holder of the Charles J. Homcy and Simeon G. Margolis Endowed Professor of Neuroscience.

This endowed Chair was established by Charles Homcy, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in honor of one of his professors and mentors, Dr. Simeon Margolis.

Congratulations to Alex Kolodkin, Professor of Neuroscience, for his election to the Academy of Arts and Sciences

Sol Snyder’s seminal contributions to the field of neuroscience continue to fuel research today.

Congratulations to Wendy Yue, a neuroscience BCMB student in King-Wai Yau's, for winning the Michael A. Shanoff, Young Investigator's Day Award 

Congratulations to Han Chin Wang, a neuroscience PhD student in Dwight Bergles lab for winning the Paul Erlich Young Investigator's Day Award.

Congratulations to Alisa Mo, a neuroscience MD/PhD student working in Jeremy Nathans lab for winning the Michael J. Shanoff Young Investigator's Day Award.

Congratulations to Amit Agarwal, a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience working with Dwight Bergles for winning the w. Barry Wood, Jr., Young Investigator's Day Award.

Megha Subramanian, Neuroscience Graduate student, recieves 2016 Autism Pre-doctoral Fellowship.

 King-Wai Yau Wins 2016 Retina Research Foundation Kayser International Award in Retina Research

Congratulations to Dr. Marshall Shuler who was chosen as one of the two winners of the 2016 Hamilton Smith Award for Innovative Research.