Neuroscience

Vanderbilt alumnus Ashwin Kumar has been selected from a pool of more than 7,000 applicants for the 2023 cohort of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program, where scholars receive up to three years of financial support to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University. Read More

Class of 2023: Read how NCAA bowling champion and National Player of the Year Mabel Cummins is using her intellect and competitive spirit in neuroscience and medicine. Read More

Researchers in the labs of Laurie Cutting and Bennett Landman recently published a study in Magnetic Resonance Imaging exploring a new tool for imaging the brains of neurofibromatosis type 1 patients and its significance in assessing their symptoms.  Read More

Five Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty members were elected 2022 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Read More

Mikail Rubinov has been awarded $600,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop new computational methods for analysis of large-scale brain activity data. Read More

Hoffman will use new immersion and brain recording technology to test memory circuits in the brain that are known to play a role in healthy aging, neurodegenerative disease, brain trauma and the most common type of seizures. Read More

A Thursday, Aug. 25, discussion will connect how childhood trauma impacts brain development and behavior, its intersection with the justice system, and how we can integrate this understanding in prevention, diversion and restorative efforts.   Read More

Angela Boutté, PhD'05, has been no stranger to breakthroughs in brain research and medical care. In January 2022, she became director of clinical chemistry for renegade.bio, a San Francisco-based public benefit corporation working to make diagnostic testing accessible to all. In 2019, she founded Aries Biotech to assist other brain disease and injury researchers with fine-tuning their work. Read More

A team comprising Assistant Professor of Psychology André Bastos, Associate Professor of Psychology and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Alexander Maier and Ph.D. candidate Jacob A. Westerberg is among three international research teams that have won the opportunity to pursue their exploration of brain function at the Allen Brain Observatory. Read More

Tao Hong, a second-year Ph.D. student in interdisciplinary materials science, and Hari Srinivasan, an incoming Ph.D. student in neuroscience, have been named to the 2022 cohort of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship Program for New Americans. This merit-based graduate award for immigrants and children of immigrants provides 30 fellows annually with up to $90,000 in funding to support their graduate studies. Read More

The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded a $3.4 million grant to professor Thilo Womelsdorf to study the underlying mechanisms of action for potential drugs to regulate cognitive function and brain network activity affected in schizophrenia without debilitating side effects. Read More

Collaboration across seven laboratories, in five institutions, across three countries and led by Vanderbilt researchers addresses fundamental questions about the organization and evolution of the human brain. Est. reading time: 1.75 mins. Read More

Body-made cannabinoids that fine tune hunger signals in the brain have been mapped, with implications for helping those with deadly feeding-related illnesses Read More

Mikail Rubinov, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, computer science, psychiatry and psychology, has been awarded a four-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to better understand the development and organization of brain networks, as well as their change in development and aging. Read More

Stressful events can rapidly modify how the brain responds to its environment and guides behaviors. These processes are relevant for neurotypical brain function and for the development of affective disorders and other psychiatric diseases, yet we have much to learn regarding the underlying molecular mechanisms. In this paper, researchers utilized pharmacologic, transgenic, and optogenetic tools to evaluate changes in brain function related to stress. Read More

Richard Sando, assistant professor of pharmacology, has been selected to receive a 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship, one of the most competitive and prestigious awards available to early-career researchers. Read More

Ege Kavalali and Heidi Hamm collaborated to discover a signaling pathway for how spontaneous release of neurotransmitters can be selectively regulated without disrupting evoked action potentials. Read More

Lisa Monteggia and her lab have identified how specific neurons in the hippocampus work to produce ketamine’s antidepressant action. Est. reading time: 2 mins. Read More

Lisa Monteggia leads discovery of the gene responsible for ketamine’s long-term effects with implications for antidepressant therapeutics. Est. reading time: 2.5 mins. Read More

Research led by Lisa Monteggia reveals that ketamine provides antidepressant effects by blocking key neural pathway. Est. reading time: 3 mins. Read More