Sung Han, Ph.D., Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Opioids are the most commonly used and most effective analgesics, and are the first line of defense against acute and severe pain. However, this dramatic ability to mitigate pain comes with many side effects. These include constipation, nausea, sedation, dizziness, respiratory depression, depende...
Anirvan S. Nandy, Ph.D., Yale University
How do social interactions dynamically shape the neural circuits of cognition? Maps of the physical and social environment (“cognitive maps”) in the brain have been theorized to be central to cognition. In highly social species like humans, cognitive computations frequently occur in s...
Won Chan Oh, Ph.D., University of Colorado
How memories are encoded in the brain is a central question in neuroscience. Our capacity to learn and recall past events is of extreme importance and loss of this ability is a hallmark feature of numerous devastating neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Cody A. Siciliano, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
The ability to make advantageous choices in uncertain situations is a fundamental behavioral process that allows for maximizing positive outcomes while minimizing negative ones. Many species are able to streamline this process by applying learned strategies to optimize choices in contexts that ha...
Emily L. Sylwestrak, Ph.D., University of Oregon
Survival often hinges on learning how to avoid threats and how to obtain “rewards”, such as food, water, and mating opportunity. The brain has evolved to quickly learn what actions lead to a reward, increasing the motivational drive to perform those actions and generating a perceived ...
Robert A. Hill, Ph.D., Dartmouth College
A complex cell structure called myelin has evolved to speed up and finely tune the transmission of electrical signals in the brain. In numerous human diseases, myelin is damaged and must be removed before tissue repair can occur.
Kai Miller, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic
Implanted brain-computer interfaces (BCls) recently made the jump from a tool requiring a custom hardware setup at the bedside and the full-time assistance of a scientist, to a small off-the-shelf implant that can be used independently to control programs on a tablet without assistance.
Tiffany Schmidt, Ph.D., Northwestern University
One major hurdle to treating diseases affecting vision is a fundamental lack of understanding of how light signals sent from the retina influence our behavior and physiology.
Ikuko Smith, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
During sensory perception, neural circuitry processes information by filtering, amplifying, and integrating electrical signals. The proposed project focuses on uncovering the underpinnings of such processes using electrophysiology, brain imaging, and behavioral analyses.
Kathleen Smith, Ph.D., University of Colorado, Denver
During many neurological diseases, brain regions that are essential for learning and memory become over-excitable, due to excessive nerve impulses between nerve cells. This causes nerve cells in these regions to behave abnormally or die, leading to brain damage.
