News

For all the latest news from the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience

  • Mon 23rd September 2024

    OneNeuro Initiative at JHU

    The OneNeuro iniative at JHU, led by Dr. Richard Huganir and Dr. Patricia Janak, aims to create a collaborative interactive network of researchers and practicioners investigating Neuroscience at JHU.  Read more about OneNeuro is this week's Hub:

    https://hub.jhu.edu/2024/09/23/oneneuro-brain-mind-science/

    "Our goal is to stop at nothing short of a complete understanding of the brain, from the molecular level to the cognitive and behavioral levels,"  - Dr. Richard Huganir

    "We're building a unique community at Hopkins that is unified across all scales of neuroscience research, from the most granular level, molecules, up to how it all comes together to support the mind." - Dr. Patricia Janak


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  • Thu 1st August 2024

    Article by David Linden about Touch

    Dr. David Linden, primary member of the Neuroscience Department, contributes an article to the magazine Aeon about touch.  In this entertaining and informative article, he discusses why certain parts of the body are more pleasurable to the touch than others. 

    Sexual sensation, What makes touch on some parts of the body erotic but not others? Cutting-edge biologists are arriving at new answers, by David Linden
    https://aeon.co/essays/what-explains-the-variations-in-sexual-sensation-between-us


     

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  • Wed 6th September 2023

    Dr. David Linden: Life, Death & the Neuroscience of Your Unique Experience

    Dr. David Linden talks with Dr. Andrew Huberman about everything from sensory touch, to sleep paralysis, to death and religion.  Check out the full interview now on Youtube:  https://youtu.be/29n0WG317tM 


    Source: https://hubermanlab.com/dr-david-linden-life-death-and-the-neuroscience-of-your-unique-experience/

     

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  • Wed 5th April 2023

    David Linden Publishes Guest Essay in New York Times

    Check out Dr. Linden's recent guest essay opinion piece in the New York Times.  He discusses neuroscience, cancer, and the potential healing powers of the mind.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/opinion/cancer-brain-mind-body.html

     

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  • Thu 8th December 2022

    Solomon Snyder, JHU distinguished professor emeritus and noted neurologist and psychologist, retires

    Solomon Snyder, distinguished Professor of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine officially retired after more than 55 years of service to the Johns Hopkins community. 

    Thank you Sol for your vision and commitment to starting and building the Department of Neuroscience! 

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  • Fri 11th March 2022

    Using Virtual Reality to Explore the Nervous System- A Q&A with Dr. Dwight Bergles

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  • Tue 4th January 2022

    Dr. David Linden's personal journey published in The Atlantic

    Dr. David Linden, primary member of the Neuroscience Department, writes candidly in The Atlantic about his cancer diagnosis, and how this altered his perspective of the mind. The article is written with Dr. Linden's typical humor and insights about life and neuroscience. 

    As Dr. Linden himself says "It’s not actually quite as much of a big, bad bummer as the title would suggest.  Please do give it a look."

     

    Link to the article in The Atlantic:  https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/terminal-cancer-neuroscientist-prepares-death/621114/

     Also hear Dr. Linden on the January 17th episode of Here & Now on NPR. 
     Dr. Linden's segment starts at 10:54: https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1073614138/1073646872

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  • Wed 3rd November 2021

    Congratulations to our freshly coated Neuroscience Graduate Students!

    Congratulations to our Neuroscience Grad students who passed their Graduate Oral Exams! 

     

    Chris Seong Yeol An,
    Riley Bannon,
    Matilde Castro,
    Daniel Daudelin,
    Aleksander Geske,
    Eric Hsu,
    Hsin-Yi Hung,
    Pelin Ozel,
    Alina Spiegel,
    Charles Walters,
    Tiger Yu Kang Xu

     

    The White Coat Ceremony on October 29th can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nG_3VNs4z0

    Neuroscience students are coated at 56:15. 

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  • Fri 10th September 2021

    Neuroscientist Perspective on Social Touch and Our Post-pandemic Future

    By Varun Chokshi and Daniel O’Connor 


    Originally published in 
    FUNDAMENTALS AUGUST 2021

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  • Wed 10th March 2021

    Octopuses as a new model organism

    Dr. Gul Dolen's work on octopuses was highlighted in Scientific American. Check it out!

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-octopus-could-be-the-next-model-organism/

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  • Fri 29th January 2021

    Neuroscience Graduate Student Talks with SfN about Implicit Bias

    Lionel Rodriguez, a Neuroscience grad student in the Martinowich lab, discusses implicit bias in this interview with SfN. 

    Article:Why Conversation and Community are Important to Stopping Bias  

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  • Mon 16th November 2020

    Virtual Open House- Johns Hopkins Neuroscience PhD Program

    Johns Hopkins Neuroscience PhD Program Virtual Open House

    Thursday, November 19th, 2020

    Zoom Link: bit.ly/HopkinsNeuroPhD

    5:00-5:30   Info Sesssion

    Rick Huganir Department Chair
    Chris Potter & Jim Knierim Graduate Program Directors 
    Angelika Doetzlhofer Admissions Director 

    5:30-6:00   Q&A Breakout Rooms

    Angelika Doetzlhofer - Admissions Process
    Chris Potter & Jim Knierim - Graduate Program Info

    Alex Kolodkin - Molecular Research Area
    Amy Bastian - Clinical Research Area
    Kristina Nielsen - Systems Research Area
    Current Graduate Students - Student Life

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  • Mon 19th October 2020

    The Neuroscience Graduate Training Program is looking to hire a Deputy Director

    Deputy Director of Neuroscience Ph.D. Training Program

    Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

    The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience seeks applicants for the new position of Deputy Director of the Neuroscience Training Program (NTP). The NTP is one of the top neuroscience Ph.D programs in the world.  Based in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the program includes approximately 80 students and 73 faculty members from 14 departments across the broader university. The Deputy Director reports to the Program Director(s) and represents the Director(s) in many facets of the program. The Deputy Director has three areas of responsibilities: Leadership (50%), Academic (35%) , and Administrative (15%).

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  • Tue 14th July 2020

    Neuroscience Department Statement Against Systemic Racism

    We in the Department of Neuroscience are horrified and deeply saddened by recent events that highlight the longstanding racism entrenched in our society. Shocking episodes of racial violence across the nation have galvanized efforts to root out the systemic biases that enable these atrocities to recur. We strongly support these goals.

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  • Mon 1st June 2020

    We will not tolerate racism in our community

    The faculty of the Hopkins Neuroscience Program and Department are extremely disturbed and angered by the racism and violence targeting the black community. Recent events remind us that as a Department and Program, our diversity is highly valued and central to our mission.

    We will not tolerate racism in our community. As always, we support those who may be targeted by racism. We commit to continuing to educate ourselves and to stand up against all forms of racism, discrimination, and bias. We will work together in the coming days, weeks, months and years to eliminate racism in our community and our society. Please feel free to reach out to the Program Co-Directors (Jim and Chris), the Department Chair (Rick), or other faculty for support.

     

    Sincerely,

     

    Rick Huganir, Director, Department of Neuroscience

    Jim Knierim, Co-Chair of Neuroscience Training Program/ Vice Chair of Education

    Chris Potter, Co-Chair of Neuroscience Training Program

    Shan Sockanathan, Vice Chair of Faculty, Dept of Neuroscience

    Dwight Bergles, Vice Chair of Research, Dept. of Neuroscience

    Jay Baraban, Department of Neuroscience Committee on Diversity and Inclusion

    Solange Brown, Department of Neuroscience Committee on Diversity and Inclusion

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  • Thu 23rd May 2019

    Congratulations to our 2019 Neuroscience Ph.D. Graduates

    Congratulations to our 2019 Neuroscience Ph.D. Graduates we’re so proud of you!

    Anna Chang, Jonathan Grima, Wendy Xin, Richard Roth, Travis Babola, Aneesh Donde and Travis Faust

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  • Fri 15th March 2019

    Dr. Daeyeol Lee's laboratory to join the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University of School of Medicine 2019

    Dr. Lee will join the Johns Hopkins Department of Neuroscience community in 2019. His laboratory research focus will be to understand brain mechanisms of decision making, in particular the role of the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia in reinforcement learning and economic choices. His research employs diverse methods developed in economics, psychology, and neuroscience. He is also an expert in statistical modeling of behavioral and neurophysiological data. Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and postdoctoral training in neurophysiology at the University of Minnesota. Learn more about more about Dr. Lee’s neuroscience research in his TEDx Talks on “How Genes and the Brain See the World” and the "Brain and Self Intelligence".

    https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/03/19/bdp-daeyeol-lee/?utm_source=Hub+-+Synced+List&utm_campaign=3dab25c86e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_03_18_06_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3aa22d10c7-3dab25c86e-69671661&mc_cid=3dab25c86e&mc_eid=3dacf79d29 

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  • Tue 4th December 2018

    Dr. Hyungbae Kwon’s laboratory to join the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University of School of Medicine 2019

    Dr. Kwon will join the Johns Hopkins Department of Neuroscience community in summer 2019, where the laboratory research focus will be to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of experience-dependent neural circuit modification using mouse model systems. His research uses cutting-edge imaging/physiology techniques such as two-photon imaging/uncaging and optogenetics at the level of synapses and circuits to define molecular and physiological mechanisms in synapse/circuit development. Dr. Kwon is one of just ten scientists awarded an NIH Directors’s Pioneer Award in 2018. His grant of $6.8 million was awarded to conduct research on the light-based mapping of human emotions.
     
    Dr. Kwon received his Ph.D. in Dr. Pablo Castillo’s lab at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and postdoctoral training with Dr. Bernardo Sabatini at Harvard Medical School. During his postdoctoral period, he used laser-based optics to understand mechanisms of excitatory synapse formation at single synapse resolution.

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  • Tue 19th June 2018

    Symposium Celebrating Rick Huganir - 30 Years at Johns Hopkins

    Symposium Celebrating

    Rick Huganir

    30 years at Johns Hopkins

    Friday, 6/22/18, 8:30am – 5pm

    Mountcastle Auditorium

    Poster Session and Reception to Follow

    PDF of Symposium Schedule

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  • Mon 21st May 2018

    Dr. Richard Huganir Named Bloomberg Distinguished Professor

    Congratulations to Dr. Richard Huganir who has been named a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor! Dr. Huganir is the Professor and Director of the Department of Neuroscience, Director of the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, and Co-Director of the Brain Science Institute.

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  • Fri 13th April 2018

    Dr. Linden's new book, THINK TANK, now available

    Scientists are trained to be meticulous when they speak about their work. That’s why David Linden likes getting his neuroscience colleagues tipsy. For years, after plying them with spirits, he has been asking brain researchers the same simple question: “What idea about brain function would you most like to explain to the world?”  He reports, “I’ve been delighted with their responses. They don’t delve into the minutiae of their latest experiments or lapse into nerd speak. They sit up a little straighter, open their eyes a little wider, and give clear, insightful, and often unpredictable or counterintuitive answers.”

     

    A new book, called THINK TANK, now available from Yale Press, is the result of those conversations. He’s invited a group of the world’s leading neuroscientists, including many from Johns Hopkins, to answer that key question in the form of a short essay.

     

    You can read an excerpt on Amazon here:

    https://www.amazon.com/Think-Tank-Neuroscientists-Biological-Experience/

     

     

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  • Mon 26th March 2018

    Writing About the Brain Neuroscience Course scores Published Article

    Dr. Linden's "Writing About the Brain" Course teaches student how to write articles for a science public.  Adithya Rajagopalan, a Graduate Student in the Neuroscience program, had his article published in Nautilus.

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  • Thu 8th March 2018

    Dr. Blackshaw talks about his recent findings on sleep promoting neurons in the brain

    Seth Blackshaw is a professor of neuroscience, neurology and ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He recently published a paper describing newly identified brain cells in mice that play a major role in promoting sleep. On Nov. 13, 2017, Blackshaw joined Reddit’s Ask Me Anything and answered questions about his research.

    Article in Nature volume 548, pages 582–587 (31 August 2017):  Lhx6-positive GABA-releasing neurons of the zona incerta promote sleep

    Dr. Blackshaw on Reddit:  https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/7cmp94/science_ama_series_im_seth_blackshaw_i_study_the/

     

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  • Thu 22nd February 2018

    Baltimore Brain Connect Outreach Program

    The Baltimore Brain Connect is a collaborative set of programming for this year's Brain Awareness Week. We have recently finalized the details of this line of programming and would like to invite all neuroscientists to participate where they are able.

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  • Wed 7th February 2018

    Going for the Gold: Dr. Fetsch's Research into the Decision Making Minds of Olympic Athletes

    Athletes who make it to the Olympics have the speed or strength or whatever physical skills it takes to be among the best in the world in their respective sports. But Johns Hopkins University Neuroscientist Christopher Fetsch and colleagues say those who ultimately bring home gold have also honed the mind of a medalist.

    Dr. Fetsch’s research focus at the Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute is how the brain makes fast decisions during body motion. The principles he’s learning can be applied to how an Olympic skiier makes adjustments in mid-turn, or how a hockey player decides whether to shoot or pass in a given moment.

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  • Fri 3rd November 2017

    Dr. Mattson Talks about Fasting and the Brain on Today Show

    Excerpt from Today Show Interview with Dr. Mark Mattson

    "We find that in the animals, the intermittent fasting reduces brain inflammation," said Mark Mattson, chief of laboratory of neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, Maryland. Mattson also noted that in mice studies, intermittent fasting dramatically improved heart health and prevented the symptoms of Alzheimer's.

    "Intermittent fasting improves cognition, that is learning and memory, and protects nerve cells from dysfunction and degeneration," Mattson continued.

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  • Fri 3rd November 2017

    Dr. Yau's Live Interview with the Science Comedian Brian Malow

    A great, mostly non-technical conversation about science with the wonderful neuroscientist Dr. King-Wai Yau, who has been at Johns Hopkins Medicinefor 32 years.

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  • Fri 3rd November 2017

    Dr. Bergles' Live Interview with the Science Comedian Brian Malow

    Live from the neuroscience department of Johns Hopkins Medicine: an interview with neuroscientist Dr. Dwight Bergles on neurons, glial cells, and astrocytes.  

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  • Thu 19th October 2017

    Brain Awareness Week Sticker Design Contest

    Be creative! 

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  • Thu 5th October 2017

    Faculty Positions in the Department of Neuroscience

    Applications are invited for tenure-track faculty positions in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (http://neuroscience.jhu.edu). Applicants investigating the development and function of the nervous system at all levels of analysis are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have a Ph.D. or M.D., and a strong record of research accomplishments. Faculty members are expected to establish creative active independent research programs and participate in t...

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  • Tue 5th September 2017

    Neuroscience Graduate Students Coating Ceremony

    In recognition of their achievements in graduate studies by successful completion of the Doctoral Board Examination, Neuroscience Training Program Students were recognized at the Annual "Graduate Coating Ceremony" on September 1, 2017 at 4:00 p.m., in Sommer Hall. 

     

     

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  • Fri 23rd June 2017

    Dr. King-Wai Yau Featured in PNAS Profile

    Neuroscientist King-Wai Yau of Johns Hopkins University has made fundamental discoveries concerning the mechanisms underlying sensory transduction. His research over the past four decades has focused primarily on vision. “Vision is one of our most precious senses from which come art, science, humanity, beauty, and practically all aspects of life,” says Yau. His findings concerning phototransduction—the process by which light is converted into a neural signal—have led to a sophisticated understanding of many hereditary diseases causing blindness. Additionally, Yau has elucidated the process of olfaction transduction that, like vision, relies on a G protein-coupled cellular signaling pathway. His Inaugural Article, signifying his 2010 election to the National Academy of Sciences, advances understanding of the electrical response of olfactory neurons to odorants.

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  • Thu 26th January 2017

    Dr. Knierim appears on SfN Podcast: tip and tricks to publishing

    This Society for Neuroscience podcast takes the listener through the process of publishing a paper, starting from the initial conceptions of the experiment through to the final publication.  Viewpoints from both the authors of the paper and journal editors are explored.  In episode 2, starting at ~10:00, Jim Knierim, a former Reviewing Editor of The Journal of Neuroscience, discusses the sometimes tricky balance between trying to “sell” your work in order to make it appealing to a broad audience while not also over-selling the work by overinterpreting the results or making promises in the introduction that are ultimately not delivered in the results.  He also emphasizes the importance of careful preparation of a manuscript before submission.

    Listen to the Peril of Publishing Podcast episode on Neuroonline

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  • Thu 19th January 2017

    David Linden speaks about the sense of touch on TED Radio Hour

    Hopkins neuroscientist David Linden joins four other speakers on the TED Radio Hour to discuss the senses.  

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  • Thu 19th January 2017

    New Institute Turbocharges Brain Science at Johns Hopkins

    Language, music, art, religious worship, self-awareness, planning, problem-solving, making tools. No other animal has all of these aptitudes. All rely on a single organ: the brain. But the brain is the most poorly understood organ of the human body. Seeking to change that, a $20 million partnership between the Kavli Foundation and The Johns Hopkins University was formed on Oct. 1, 2015. The Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute (Kavli NDI), led by neuroscientist Richard Huganir and computational scientist Michael Miller, is an interdisciplinary group of Johns Hopkins scientists who will harness the problem-solving aptitudes of their brains to devise tools that unlock the mysteries of neuroscience. 

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  • Wed 23rd November 2016

    Kavli Roundtable Discussion with Hopkins Researchers on Data Sharing on a Massive Scale

    The Kavli Institute hosted a roundtable discussion with Joshua Vogelstein, a member of the Johns Hopkins Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute (KNDI), Alex Szala, Director of the Hopkins Institute for Data Intesive science, and Christof Koch , President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. 

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  • Tue 18th October 2016

    Potter Lab Identifies a Possible "FLAVOR" Center in the Mosquito Brain

    The Potter lab uses neurogenetic techniques to identify olfactory neurons in the Anopheles gambiae malaria mosquito. The group identifies that mosquitoes may have a brain region dedicated to the integration of smells and tastes given off by people. 

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  • Tue 18th October 2016

    Hopkins Neuroscientist's Work Yields New Insights into Postsynaptic Density Regulation

    Research reveals how PSD forms and why defects can cause autism

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  • Tue 18th October 2016

    Hopkins Neuroscientists Identify Inhibitors of Zika Virus Infection

    Drs. Guo-li Ming and Hongjun Song, Professors of Neurology and Neuroscience, in collaboration with the Natiional Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NIH), have identified small-molecule drugs that may prove effective in stopping the Zika Virus.  Their work was recently published in Nature Medicine.

    Identification of small-molecule inhibitors of Zika virus infection and induced neural cell death via a drug repurposing screen. Nature Medicine 22, 1101-1107.

     

     

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  • Thu 25th August 2016

    Neuroscientist Ulrich Mueller joins JHU as Bloomberg Distinguished Professor

     Uli Mueller joins the Department of Neuroscience.

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  • Thu 18th August 2016

    David Linden in Time magazine

    David Linden explains why we should embrace the power of touch. According to him, touching improves team cooperation and performance.

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  • Mon 18th July 2016

    Kristina Nielsen on How the Brain Turns Pixels into Objects

    Full article link. Interviewed by Catherine Gara Kristina Nielsen is an assistant professor of neuroscience with the Zanvyl Krieger/Mind Brain Institute. She studies how nerve cells are organized in the brain’s visual areas to enable object recognition. How did you get into science?NIELSEN: I come from a scientific family. My dad and uncle are physicists, and one of my grandfathers was an engineer. At university in Germany, where I grew up, I started studying physics because I liked it ...

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  • Wed 22nd June 2016

    Society for Neuroscience elects Richard Huganir as next SfN President

    Full Election Results: http://www.sfn.org/news-and-calendar/news-and-calendar/news/spotlight/2016/2016-election-winners

    The Society for Neuroscience congratulates its newly elected officers and councilors. Chosen by members using an independent online monitoring company, the incoming council members begin their terms at Neuroscience 2016 in San Diego.

    Congratulations to Richard Huganir, Director and Professor of the Department of Neuroscience,  for being elected as the next Society for Neuroscience President.  

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  • Wed 11th May 2016

    Dept of Neuroscience Researchers Featured in The New Yorker

    Dr. David Linden and Dr. Xinzhong Dong's research regarding touch featured in The New Yorker. 

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  • Fri 1st April 2016

    Huganir Lab reports in Science: How does the brain “know” when to stop eating?

    Scientists at Johns Hopkins say they stumbled upon a new type of nerve cell that seems to control feeding behaviors in mice.

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  • Wed 3rd February 2016

    Dr. Shan Sockanathan Finalist in 2016 President's Frontier Award

    Congratulations to Dr. Shan Sockanathan, a Primary faculty member in the Department of Neuroscience, for being selected as a Finalist in the 2016 President's Frontier Award.  The Frontier Award was made possible through a donation from two Johns Hopkins alumni: university trustee Louis J. Forster and alumna Kathleen M. Pike. The award will recognize one person each year for five years with funding for their research expenses. When it was announced in October 2014, the progra...

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  • Tue 19th January 2016

    Dr. Alex Kolodkin wins Pradel Research Award from the National Academy of Science

    Dr. Alex Kolodkin, HHMI Professor of Neuroscience, has been awarded the National Academy of Sciences' 2016 Pradel Research Award.  The Pradel Research Award is presented annually to recognize mid-career neuroscientists whose work is making major contributions to our understanding of the nervous system. The recipient is presented with a $50,000 research award to an institution of their choice to support neuroscience research. Dr. Kolodkin receives this award for his pioneerin...

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  • Mon 7th December 2015

    O’Connor lab solves puzzle of “fickle” perception

    How Our Brains Overrule Our Senses Experiments reveal brain circuits that shape sensory perceptions.   Scientists have long known that when sounds are faint or objects are seen through fog in the distance, repetition of these weak or ambiguous sensory “inputs” can result in different perceptions inside the same brain. Now the results of new research,described online Dec. 7 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, have identified brain processes in mice that may ...

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  • Fri 30th October 2015

    Brain training: Researchers at Johns Hopkins solve puzzle of how we learn

    Study sheds light on relationship between stimuli and delayed rewards, explaining why Pavlov's dogs learned to drool when they heard a bell. More than a century ago, Pavlov figured out that dogs fed after hearing a bell eventually began to salivate when they heard the ring. A Johns Hopkins University-led research team has now figured out a key aspect of why. In an article published in the journal Neuron, Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Alfredo Kirkwood settles a mystery of neurology that has ...

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  • Sat 3rd October 2015

    Jeremiah Cohen Finalist for 2015 Eppendorf Prize

    Dopamine and serotonin signals for reward across time scales Jeremiah Y. Cohen Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Brain Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.  *E-mail: jeremiah.cohen@jhmi.edu Science 2 October 2015:  Vol. 350  no. 6256  pp. 47-48   DOI: 10.1126/science.aad3003  •Essays on Science and Society It is one of the peculiar features of most modern neurophysiology that the experime...

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  • Fri 2nd October 2015

    The Kavli Foundation announces $100 million commitment to Brain Research

    A Roundtable with the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute By integrating neuroscience, engineering and data science, the new Kavli Institute at Johns Hopkins University aims to fuel new discoveries about how the brain functions. NEUROSCIENTISTS TODAY ARE WIELDING ever-more-powerful tools for understanding the mysteries of the  brain. A suite of new approaches is allowing researchers to listen in on brain activity and to measure the molecular, cellular, and structural changes that under...

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  • Mon 31st August 2015

    Tom Lloyd publishes in Nature regarding neurodegeneration

    Plugged pores may underlie some ALS, dementia cases It is famous for robbing Lou Gehrig of his life and Stephen Hawking of his mobility and voice, but just how amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord remains a mystery. Now, scientists are converging on an explanation, at least for a fraction of the ALS cases caused by a specific mutation. In cells with the mutation, the new work shows, pores in the membrane separating the nucleus and cytoplasm bec...

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  • Mon 31st August 2015

    Mystery solved: Neuroscience graduate student is Baltimore 'dancing girl'

    Mystery solved: Baltimore 'dancing girl' reveals identity (Click on link to see if you recognize her.) A mysterious dancing woman has captivated Baltimore for weeks. Prancing through the streets, jamming out to various radio stations on her iPod, Betsy Mills captured the attention of the city recently when her moves brought a smile to the faces of passersby in Mount Vernon, Canton and the Inner Harbor. Little did Mills know a YouTube video of her dancing in Canton (unintenti...

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  • Wed 26th August 2015

    David Foster Watches Rats String Memories Together

    Experiments show neurons firing as rats plan their next move Fast Facts: Specialized nerve cells in the brain help animals navigate by “remembering” specific places, and they fire each time the animal encounters that place. Scientists monitored the activity of these so-called place cells to see how rats reconstructed memories as they planned their route from one place to another. Their results suggest that memories are more like separate but connected “snapshots” in the...

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  • Wed 26th August 2015

    Knierim lab - Where does a memory begin? Johns Hopkins neuroscientists think they know

    Place cells in hippocampus help construct cognitive map, study suggests (Johns Hopkins Researcher Probe Mysteries of the Brain - 60 second video with James Knierim) By tracking brain activity when an animal stops to look around its environment, neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins University believe they can mark the birth of a memory. Using lab rats on a circular track, James Knierim, professor of neuroscience in the Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute at Johns Hopkins, and a team of b...

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  • Wed 26th August 2015

    Knierim Lab Pinpoints Part of Brain That Taps into our Memory Banks

    Two parts of hippocampus work together to determine whether stimulus is completely new or related to something familiar Jill Rosen / August 19 Tagged brain science, mind/brain institute, alzheimer's Johns Hopkins researchers have determined that CA3, a region of the hippocampus, plays a crucial role in helping us determine whether a stimulus is completely new or an altered version of something familiar. Image: Johns Hopkins University You see a man at the grocery store. Is that the guy yo...

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  • Sun 31st May 2015

    Publications - May 2015

    Publications from Primary Faculty Members - May 2015   Bedont, JL, Blackshaw, S. Constructing the suprachiasmatic nucleus: a watchmaker's perspective on the central clockworks. Front Syst Neurosci. 2015 May 8;9:74. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2015.00074. eCollection 2015.   Harraz MM, Snyder SH1. Nitric Oxide-GAPDH Transcriptional Signaling Mediates Behavioral Actions of Cocaine. CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets. 2015 May 29. [Epub ahead of print].   Martin AB, von der Heydt...

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  • Tue 19th May 2015

    Xinzhong Dong selected as HHMI Investigator

    Congratulation to Dr. Xinzhong Dong, a Primary Neuroscience Faculty member, for being selected as a new Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator! HHMI Selects 26 of the Nation’s Top Biomedical Scientists  The 2015 HHMI Investigators: A-L...

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  • Thu 30th April 2015

    Publications - April 2015

    Publication from Primary Faculty Members - April 2015   Long AW, Finley JM, Bastian AJ. A Marching-Walking Hybrid Induces Step Length Adaptation and Transfers to Natural Walking. J Neurophysiol 2015 Apr 1;jn.00779.2014. doi: 10.1152/jn.00779.2014. [Epub ahead of print] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=A+Marching-Walking+Hybrid+Induces+Step+Length+Adaptation+and+Transfers+to+Natural+Walking   Roemmich RT, Bastian AJ. Two Ways to Save a Newly Learned Motor Pattern. J Neuro...

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  • Wed 15th April 2015

    Gul Dolen Wins Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award

    Gul Dolen, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is one of the 12 recipients of The Hartwell Foundation’s 2015 Individual Biomedical Research Award competition. Each award will provide research support for three years at $100,000 per year.  Dolen will take a novel approach to studying autism, a disorder of brain development characterized by dysfunctional social behaviors and communication. She will seek to ide...

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  • Tue 14th April 2015

    Gul Dolen awarded a 2015 Searle Scholarship for Exceptional Young Scientists

     Gül Dölen, M.D., Ph.D, a primary member in the Neuroscience Department and Wendy Klag Center affiliate, was named as 1 of the 15 Searle Scholars for 2015 for her research project "Synaptic and Circuit Mechanisms Underlying Social Reward Deficits in Autism.” The pool of applicants included 186 recently appointed assistant professors from 126 universities and research institutions, according to the Searle Scholars program. Over the next three years, each of the 15 Searl...

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  • Tue 31st March 2015

    Publications - March 2015

    Publications from Primary Neuroscience Faculty Members - March 2015:   Paul BD, Snyder SH.  Protein sulfydration. Methods Enzymol.2015;555:79-90. doi: 10.1016/bs.mie.2014.11.021. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S007668791400086X   Riabinina O, Luginbuhl D, Marr E, Liu S, Wu MN, Luo L, Potter CJ.  Improved and Expanded Q-system Reagents for Genetic Manipulations. Nat Methods.2015 Mar;12(3):219-22. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.3250. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...

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  • Thu 5th February 2015

    David Linden discusses his new book "Touch" on Fresh Air

    David Linden, a primary faculty member in the Neuroscience Department, releases his new book "Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart, and Mind".   Dr. Linden presents an engaging and fascinating examination of how the interface between our sense of touch and our emotional responses affects our social interactions as well as our general health and development. 'Touch' explores scientific advances in the understanding of touch that help explain our sense of self and our experience of the w...

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  • Thu 5th February 2015

    David Linden discusses his new book "Touch" on Fresh Air

    David Linden, a primary faculty member in the Neuroscience Department, releases his new book "Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart, and Mind".   Dr. Linden presents an engaging and fascinating examination of how the interface between our sense of touch and our emotional responses affects our social interactions as well as our general health and development. 'Touch' explores scientific advances in the understanding of touch that help explain our sense of self and our experience of the world. &n...

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  • Mon 12th January 2015

    Jeremiah Cohen wins MQ Fellows Award

    Jeremiah Cohen, a primary faculty member in the Neuroscience department and Brain Science Institute, was named one of four international MQ Fellows.  The annual MQ Fellows Award provides researchers funds to support cutting-edge projects exploring new ways of understanding, treating and preventing mental illness.  Dr. Cohen's group investigates the neuromodulatory basis of behaviors.  Serotonin is a neurotransmitter involved in many behaviors and disorders. &nb...

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  • Tue 23rd December 2014

    Xinzhong Dong Reports in Nature the Identification of a New Mast Cell Allergy Receptor

    Xinzhong Dong, a primary faculty member in the Neuroscience department, reports in Nature the identification of a new receptor on mast cells linked to drug-induced allergic reactions.  Many clinical used drugs including anti-cancer, diabetes, and HIV drugs, neuromuscular blocking drugs (NMBDs) to certain classes of antibiotics cause allergy-like reactions such as rash, dropping body temperature, and slowing heart beat. Some of the side-effects become non-compliance factors for the dru...

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  • Tue 23rd December 2014

    Xinzhong Dong Reports in Nature the Identification of a New Mast Cell Allergy Receptor

    Xinzhong Dong, a primary faculty member in the Neuroscience department, reports in Nature the identification of a new receptor on mast cells linked to drug-induced allergic reactions.  Many clinical used drugs including anti-cancer, diabetes, and HIV drugs, neuromuscular blocking drugs (NMBDs) to certain classes of antibiotics cause allergy-like reactions such as rash, dropping body temperature, and slowing heart beat. Some of the side-effects become non-compliance factors for the d...

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  • Thu 4th December 2014

    Alex Kolodkin named as AAAS Fellow

    Primary Neuroscience member Dr. Alex Kolodkin has been elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  This is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers in recogniztion of their advancement of science.  The newly elected fellows will each be awarded a certificate and a rosette pin during the AAAS Fellows Forum on Feb. 14 at the 2015 AAAS annual meeting in San Jose, Calif. Dr. Kolodkin is a professor of neuroscience in the Scho...

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  • Thu 4th December 2014

    Alex Kolodkin named as AAAS Fellow

    Primarry Neuroscience member Dr. Alex Kolodkin has been elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  This is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers in recogniztion of their advancement of science.  The newly elected fellows will each be awarded a certificate and a rosette pin during the AAAS Fellows Forum on Feb. 14 at the 2015 AAAS annual meeting in San Jose, Calif. Dr. Kolodkin is a professor of neuroscience in the S...

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  • Fri 24th October 2014

    David Yue describes a surprising twist for apocalmodulin function in the recent issue of Cell

    David Yue and colleagues report in the the current issue of Cell a surprising role for Ca2+-unbound apopcalmodulin in regulating calcium and sodium channel activities. The Ca2+-free form of calmodulin (apoCaM) often appears inert, modulating target molecules only upon conversion to its Ca2+-bound form. This schema has appeared to govern voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, where apoCaM has been considered a dormant Ca2+ sensor, associated with channels but awaiting the binding of Ca2+ io...

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  • Fri 24th October 2014

    David Yue describes a surprising twist for apocalmodulin function in the recent issue of Cell

    David Yue and colleagues report in the the current issue of Cell a surprising role for Ca2+-unbound apopcalmodulin in regulating calcium and sodium channel activities. The Ca2+-free form of calmodulin (apoCaM) often appears inert, modulating target molecules only upon conversion to its Ca2+-bound form. This schema has appeared to govern voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, where apoCaM has been considered a dormant Ca2+ sensor, associated with channels but awaiting the binding of Ca2+ io...

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  • Wed 8th October 2014

    Richard Huganir Wins 2014 Goldman-Rakic Prize

    Richard Huganir, Ph.D., has received the Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. The $40,000 prize is named for pioneering neurobiologist Patricia Goldman-Rakic. The award recognizes significant contributions made at the cellular, physiological or behavioral levels that may lend new insight into psychiatric and neurological disease. As a recipient, Huganir will be invited to give an honorary lect...

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  • Wed 8th October 2014

    Richard Huganir Wins 2014 Goldman-Rakic Prize

    Richard Huganir, Ph.D., has received the Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. The $40,000 prize is named for pioneering neurobiologist Patricia Goldman-Rakic. The award recognizes significant contributions made at the cellular, physiological or behavioral levels that may lend new insight into psychiatric and neurological disease. As a recipient, Huganir will be invited to give an honorary lect...

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  • Mon 15th September 2014

    Chang Liu wins 2014 Symposium Award from the Society of General Physiologists

    Congratulations to Chang Liu, a Neuroscience Graduate student in the labs of Paul Fuchs and Elisabeth Glowatzki.  She was awarded the 2014 Symposium Award from the Society of General Physiologists at their 68th Annual Meeting and Symposium in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. ...

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  • Mon 15th September 2014

    Chang Liu wins 2014 Symposium Award from the Society of General Physiologists

    Congratulations to Chang Liu, a Neuroscience Graduate student in the labs of Paul Fuchs and Elisabeth Glowatzki.  She was awarded the 2014 Symposium Award from the Society of General Physiologists at their 68th Annual Meeting and Symposium in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. ...

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  • Fri 22nd August 2014

    Marsh-Armstrong's Reports in PNAS regarding the transcellular degradation of axonal mitochondria

    The Marsh-Armstrong lab reports in the July issue of PNAS the suprising discovery that in a location called the optic nerve head, large numbers of mitochondria are shed from neurons to be degraded by the lysosomes of adjoining glial cells. This finding calls into question the assumption that a cell necessarily degrades its own organelles. Davis  CH, Kim KY, Bushong EA, Mills EA, Boassa D, Shi T, Kinebuchi M, Phan S, Zhou Y, Bihlmeyer NA, Nguyen JV, Jin Y, Ellisman MH, Marsh-Armst...

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  • Fri 22nd August 2014

    Marsh-Armstrong's Reports in PNAS regarding the transcellular degradation of axonal mitochondria

    The Marsh-Armstrong lab reports in the July issue of PNAS the suprising discovery that in a location called the optic nerve head, large numbers of mitochondria are shed from neurons to be degraded by the lysosomes of adjoining glial cells. This finding calls into question the assumption that a cell necessarily degrades its own organelles. Davis  CH, Kim KY, Bushong EA, Mills EA, Boassa D, Shi T, Kinebuchi M, Phan S, Zhou Y, Bihlmeyer NA, Nguyen JV, Jin Y, Ellisman MH, Marsh-Arm...

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  • Fri 1st August 2014

    Brown and Cohen selected as Klingenstein-Simons Neuroscience Fellows

    The 12 Fellows for the 2014 Klingenstein-Simons Neuroscience Award were announced, and 2 of the Fellows are primary members in the Neuroscience department.  Solange Brown was awarded a Fellowship to investigate cortical circuits involved in sensory processing.    Sensory perception represents the interplay of peripheral sensory input and internally generated brain states such as attention.  Although it is clear that the same sensory input can be perceived very different...

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  • Fri 1st August 2014

    Brown and Cohen selected as Klingenstein-Simons Neuroscience Fellows

    The 12 Fellows for the 2014 Klingenstein-Simons Neuroscience Award were announced, and 2 of the Fellows are primary members in the Neuroscience department.  Solange Brown was awarded a Fellowship to investigate cortical circuits involved in sensory processing.    Sensory perception represents the interplay of peripheral sensory input and internally generated brain states such as attention.  Although it is clear that the same sensory input can be perceived very differe...

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  • Tue 22nd July 2014

    Linden and Potter Each Awarded a School of Medicine Synergy Discovery Grant

    The School of Medicine announced the 16 recipients of the Discovery Fund Synergy Awards (DFSA) Program. These awards are designed to spark new, synergistic interactions between investigators and potentiate scientific achievements of the highest quality and impact. Two of the 16 recipients are primary members of the Neuroscience department.  David Linden (Neuroscience) and Gregory Ball (Psychology and Brain Sciences) were awarded a grant to study the modulation of synapses by estrogen ...

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  • Tue 22nd July 2014

    Linden and Potter Each Awarded a School of Medicine Synergy Discovery Grant

    The School of Medicine announced the 16 recipients of the Discovery Fund Synergy Awards (DFSA) Program. These awards are designed to spark new, synergistic interactions between investigators and potentiate scientific achievements of the highest quality and impact. Two of the 16 recipients are primary members of the Neuroscience department.  David Linden (Neuroscience) and Gregory Ball (Psychology and Brain Sciences) were awarded a grant to study the modulation of synapses by estroge...

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  • Fri 20th June 2014

    Sol Snyder Wins 2014 Alpert Prize

    The 2014 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize will be awarded to Oleh Hornykiewicz of the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Toronto; Roger Nicoll of the University of California, San Francisco; and Solomon Snyder of the Johns Hopkins University, for their pioneering research into neurotransmission and neurodegeneration. The three recipients will share an unrestricted prize of $250,000 and will be honored at a special symposium at Harvard Medical School on Thursday, October 2, 2014. F...

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  • Fri 20th June 2014

    Sol Snyder Wins 2014 Alpert Prize

    The 2014 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize will be awarded to Oleh Hornykiewicz of the Medical University of Vienna and the University of Toronto; Roger Nicoll of the University of California, San Francisco; and Solomon Snyder of the Johns Hopkins University, for their pioneering research into neurotransmission and neurodegeneration. The three recipients will share an unrestricted prize of $250,000 and will be honored at a special symposium at Harvard Medical School on Thursday, October 2, 2014. ...

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  • Tue 17th June 2014

    Steven Hsiao, World Leader in Sensory Physiology Research

    Steven Hsiao, World Leader in Sensory Physiology Research, Has Died    Steven S. Hsiao, an internationally renowned researcher whose innovative experiments on how the brain perceives the shape, size and texture of three-dimensional objects could lead to the development of artificial limbs that can feel, died at The Johns Hopkins Hospital on June 16 of lung cancer. He was 59.             “Steve has been a defining part of Ho...

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  • Tue 17th June 2014

    Steven Hsiao, World Leader in Sensory Physiology Research

       Steven Hsiao, World Leader in Sensory Physiology Research, Has DiedSteven S. Hsiao, an internationally renowned researcher whose innovative experiments on how the brain perceives the shape, size and texture of three-dimensional objects could lead to the development of artificial limbs that can feel, died at The Johns Hopkins Hospital on June 16 of lung cancer. He was 59.             “Steve has been a defining part of Hopkin...

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  • Thu 17th April 2014

    The 2014 Young Investigator Award Winners - Congrats to Neuroscience winners

    Congratulations to the following 2014 Young Investigators Award Winners from the Neuroscience Department! Graduate Students: Manu Johny, winner of the Nupur Dinesh Thekdi Award,  from David Yue's lab Lu Sun, winner of the Paul Erlich Award, from Alex Kolodkin's lab Postdoctoral Fellows: Ian Martin, winner of the W. Barry Wood Jr Award, from Ted Dawson's lab Hao Wu, winner of the Alfred Blalock Award, from Jeremy Nathan's lab Liang Han, winner of the Albert Lehnin...

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  • Thu 17th April 2014

    The 2014 Young Investigator Award Winners - Congrats to Neuroscience winners

    Congratulations to the following 2014 Young Investigators Award Winners from the Neuroscience Department!  Graduate Students: Manu Johny, winner of the Nupur Dinesh Thekdi Award, from David Yue's lab Lu Sun, winner of the Paul Erlich Award, from Alex Kolodkin's lab Postdoctoral Fellows: Ian Martin, winner of the W. Barry Wood Jr Award, from Ted Dawson's lab Hao Wu, winner of the Alfred Blalock Award, from Jeremy Nathan's lab Liang Han, winner of the Albert Lehninger Aw...

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  • Sat 12th April 2014

    Jim Knierim reports in Nature Neuroscience

    The Knierim lab reports in the current issue of Nature Neuroscience. The Knierim lab demonstrates that new spatial firing fields (place fields) in the hippocampus can be created almost instantaneously when a rat pauses to investigate its environment.  This finding may lend physiological support to current ideas about the role of the hippocampus as serving as a memory index that rapidly stores information about attended experience onto the rat’s mental map of its environment. Mon...

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  • Sat 12th April 2014

    Knierim Book Released: Space, Time and Memory in the Hippocampal Formation

    A book co-edited by Jim Knierim and Dori Derdikman, "Space, Time and Memory in the Hippocampal Formation" was just released.    This volume brings together a collection of chapters from internationally recognized experts on the role of the hippocampus and related areas in memory function.  Focused primarily on the physiological correlates of the hippocampus in behaving rats, the chapters discuss the nature of information processing in input regions to the hippocampus, s...

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  • Sat 12th April 2014

    Jim Knierim reports in Nature Neuroscience

    The Knierim lab reports in the current issue of Nature Neuroscience. The Knierim lab demonstrates that new spatial firing fields (place fields) in the hippocampus can be created almost instantaneously when a rat pauses to investigate its environment.  This finding may lend physiological support to current ideas about the role of the hippocampus as serving as a memory index that rapidly stores information about attended experience onto the rat’s mental map of its environment. Monac...

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  • Sat 12th April 2014

    Knierim Book Released: Space, Time and Memory in the Hippocampal Formation

    A book co-edited by Jim Knierim and Dori Derdikman, "Space, Time and Memory in the Hippocampal Formation" was just released.     This volume brings together a collection of chapters from internationally recognized experts on the role of the hippocampus and related areas in memory function.  Focused primarily on the physiological correlates of the hippocampus in behaving rats, the chapters discuss the nature of information processing in input regions to the hippocam...

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  • Mon 17th March 2014

    The Wu lab describes new sleep gene in Neuron and on NPR

    In the April 2nd issue of Neuron, the Wu Lab reports the identification of a novel conserved molecule that mediates the circadian timing of sleep in Drosophila.  The timing of sleep is regulated by the circadian clock, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood.  From a large scale screen, Liu et al. identified a novel molecule, WIDE AWAKE, that translates timing information from the molecular clock to modulate the excitability of arousal promoting clock neurons.  WIDE AW...

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  • Thu 13th March 2014

    Dr. Bergles discusses the roles of glia in the nervous system on the latest Brain Matters Podcast

    On the latest episode of Brain Matters, Dr. Dwight Bergles talks about the diverse functions of glia in the nervous system. Click here to go to Dr. Bergles' podcast....

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  • Fri 28th February 2014

    Review by Christopher Potter in Cell

    Who hasn't been bitten by a mosquito?  For many, that mosquito bite could be deadly.  In the current issue of Cell, Christopher Potter reviews recent studies that combat mosquito attacks by targeting the mosquito's nose.   Potter, CJ. “Stop the Biting: Targeting a Mosquito's Sense of Smell.” Cell 156, no. 5 (2014): 878–881....

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  • Tue 25th February 2014

    The Dong Lab reports in the current issue of Neuron

    New research by Xinzhong Dong's lab published in the current issue of Neuron demonstrates that sensitized TRPV1 activity at the central projections of primary spinal cord sensory neurons, spurred by serotonergic inputs from brainstem descending fibers, contributes to nerve injured induced pain. Kim et al. developed a novel imaging technique which allowed them to specifically monitor neuronal activities of sensory nerve fibers in the skin and spinal cord. In collaboration with Dr. ...

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  • Mon 24th February 2014

    The Kolodkin lab reports in Neuron

    The Kolodkin lab reports in the current issue of Neuron that the β1-Integrin laminin receptor is required for retinal ganglion cell (RGC) positioning and reorganization into a single-cell retinal ganglion cell layer (GCL) layer. Furthermore, Roccomagno et al show that β1-Integrin signaling within migrating GCL cells requires Cas signaling-adaptor proteins, and in the absence of β1-Integrin or Cas function, retinal neurons form ectopic cell clusters beyond the inner-limiting membrane (ILM...

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  • Sun 9th February 2014

    Hey-Kyoung Lee featured on NPR

    Hey-Kyoung Lee's recent Neuron paper was featured on "All Things Considered" on NPR.   An excerpt from the story: A few days in the dark can improve an animal's hearing, scientists report this week in the journal Neuron. This temporary loss of visual input seems to trigger favorable changes in areas of the brain that process auditory information, they say....

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  • Wed 5th February 2014

    The Lee Lab reports in Neuron

    The Lee lab reports in Neuron that visual deprivation leads to improved frequency selectivity as well as increased frequency and intensity discrimination performance in primary auditory cortex A1 neurons. They demonstrate in vitro that in adults visual deprivation strengthens thalamocortical (TC) synapses in A1, but not in primary visual cortex (V1). Because deafening potentiated TC synapses in V1, but not A1, crossmodal TC potentiation seems to be a general property of adult cortex. T...

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  • Sat 25th January 2014

    The Knierim Lab reports in Neuron

    A new research article from the Knierim lab on the neural mechanisms of pattern separation and pattern completion was published in the journal Neuron, accompanied by a Preview article highlighting the results. This research tested longstanding computational theories of the dentate gyrus and CA3 regions of the hippocampus, a brain structure critical for learning and memory.  The dentate gyrus was proposed to perform a process called “pattern separation,” which reduces the overlap...

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  • Wed 20th November 2013

    Dr. Foster is selected as President of the Baltimore Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience.

    Dr. Foster is selected as President of the Baltimore Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. ...

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  • Wed 20th November 2013

    Cara Altimus wins first place honors

    Cara Altimus, a Postdoc in the Foster lab, wins 1st place in the Society for Neuroscience Baltimore Chapter Poster competition.  ...

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  • Fri 1st November 2013

    The Kolodkin lab reports in Science

    The Kolodkin lab reports in Science that signaling between the transmembrane guidance cue semaphorin 6A (Sema6A) and its receptor plexinA2 (PlexA2) regulates dendritic morphology of On, but not Off, starburst amacrine cells, thereby controlling direction-selective responses to visual stimuli in the mouse. Direction-selective responses to visual cues depend upon precise connectivity between inhibitory starburst amacrine cells (SACs) and direction-selective ganglion cells (DSGCs). Mot...

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  • Thu 31st October 2013

    The Huganir lab reports in Science

    The Huganir lab reports in Science the discovery of a candidate gene linking synapse formation and language development.  SRPX2 was a secreted protein identified in a high throughput screen for synaptogenic molecules.  SRPX2 promotes excitatory synapse formation under the control of the language-associated transcription factor FOXP2. Loss of SRPX2 impairs synapse formation and ultrasonic vocalization in mice, indicating that this may represent a pathway crucial for circuit formation un...

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  • Tue 1st October 2013

    Dr. Brown is awarded a NARSAD Young Investigator Award

    Dr. Brown, MD, PhD is awarded a NARSAD Young Investigator Award to study the poorly understood role of particular neurons located below the cerebral cortex, known to be abnormally distributed in patients with schizophrenia. Using mouse models, Dr. Brown’s goal is to determine the impact of these neurons in generating the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of the illness. ...

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  • Thu 26th September 2013

    Dr. Huganir presents the 2013 C. Ladd Prosser Memorial Lecture

    Dr. Huganir presents the 2013 C. Ladd Prosser Memorial Lecture at the University of Illinois, “Receptors, Synapses and Memory”, Urbana-Champaign, IL...

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  • Thu 12th September 2013

    Dr. Dolen reports in Nature

    Dr. Dolen reports in Nature that the neuromodulators oxytocin and serotonin act in concert to make social interactions rewarding. In addition, these studies suggest that this type of reinforcement learning may not function properly in the brains of autistic individuals.  Dolen G, Darvishzadeh, A, Huang, KW, Malenka RC. (2013). Social reward requires coordinated activity of nucleus accumbens oxytocin and serotonin.  Nature Vol 501, pp179-184. In the news: http://www.cell.com/abst...

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  • Thu 15th August 2013

    RO1 Grant Renewed for 5 years

    Dr. Knierim's RO1 grant is renewed by the NINDS for another 5 years to investigate dentate gyrus and hippocampal neuronal ensembles in memory formation. ...

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  • Mon 1st July 2013

    Dr. O'Connor is awarded a 2013 Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Award

    Dr. O'Connor is awarded a 2013 Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Award in the Neurosciences to study the circuit and cellular mechanisms gating excitation signals at the earliest stages of the sensory cortex. ...

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