News
Black Lives Matter
August 12, 2020
The Department of Neuroscience and the Mahoney Institute for Neurosciences (MINS) are committed to Black Lives Matter and strongly believe that greater diversity among our Students, Trainees, Staff, and Faculty will strengthen our program. We will participate wholeheartedly in the University of Pennsylvania’s Action for Cultural Transformation and will strive to reveal and remove bias, both conscious and unconscious. We strive to ensure equity and inclusion in hiring and treatment practices across the neuroscience community. Our goal is a neuroscience community that is inclusive and affirmatively anti-racist in all aspects of its operations.
John A. Dani, Ph.D.,
David J. Mahoney Professor of Neurological Sciences
and Chair of Neuroscience
Director, MINS
John A. Detre, M.D.
Professor of Neurology
Director, Penn Brain Science Center
Minghong Ma, Ph.D.
Co-Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion and
Professor of Neuroscience
Jonathan Raper, Ph.D.
Vice Chair for Research and
Professor of Neuroscience
Brian M. Salzberg, Ph.D.
Co-Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion and
Professor of Neuroscience and Physiology
Amita Seghal, Ph.D.
Vice Chair for Professionalism and
John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience
Director, Chronobiology and Sleep Institute
Overcoming Injustices
June 04, 2020
In a message to the Penn community, President Amy Gutmann wrote of the “grim manifestations of ongoing racism, repression, and inflammation of hatred in our society.”
Neuroscience Chair John Dani on PBS's "Counter Culture"
March 03, 2020
On this episode, host Grover Silcox welcomed Dr. Dani, who discussed how the adolescent brain can be impacted by stress and nicotine, leading to greater vulnerability to addictions later in life.
Guo-li Ming, MD, PhD, is one of six PSOM faculty named to the National Academy of Medicine
October 20, 2019
Professor Guo-li Ming, MD, PhD, is one of six faculty members from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine
Amita Sehgal's Research Featured in "Smithsonian Magazine"
February 05, 2019
These results, Sehgal explained, indicate that “sleep regulation is closely linked to the immune system, in particular how the body deals with sleep deprivation.
Penn Medicine Neuroscientist Receives Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award
June 01, 2018
Shinjae Chung, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience has been named a recipient of a 2017 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award.
Teens Who Smoke More Likely to Abuse Alcohol as Adults
April 19, 2018
Smoking as a teen could be even worse than lighting up later in life, a new animal study led by John Dani, PhD, chair of Neuroscience, has found. Early exposure to nicotine may change the way the brain responds to rewards and put users at a later, greater risk to abuse alcohol.
2017 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Awards - Shinjae Chung
April 01, 2018
The Hartwell Foundation today officially announced the recipients of the 2017 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Awards.
Penn’s Mahoney Institute for Neurosciences Announces Inaugural Recipient of Rising Star Award
March 12, 2018
Washington University’s Michael Bruchas honored for addiction research
Early-Career Penn Medicine Biology, Neuroscience Researchers Receive Sloan Fellowships
March 09, 2018
Shinjae Chung, PhD, an assistant professor of Neuroscience, and Iain Mathieson, PhD, an assistant professor of Genetics, both from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, have been awarded highly competitive 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships.
How Brain Develops Before Birth is Tightly Controlled by RNA Modification
September 28, 2017
A chemical tag added to RNA during embryonic development regulates how the early brain grows, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings are published this week in Cell.
Catch up with Amita Sehgal
March 23, 2017
Amita Sehgal, the John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience
in the Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Chronobiology Program at Penn, discusses her interest in science and sleep, fruit flies, sleep mutants, biological clocks, and the health hazards of working at night.
Congratulations
December 12, 2016
Greg Bashaw, has been awarded research funding under a novel, multi-year pilot program from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Neural Response
November 18, 2016
A team led by John Dani, PhD, chair of the department of Neuroscience in the Perelman School of Medicine, found that rodents that had been exposed to stress had a weakened alcohol-induced dopamine response and voluntarily drank more alcohol compared to controls.
Flies Sleep Just Like Us
June 30, 2016
Amita Sehgal, PhD, a professor of Neuroscience and director of the Chronobiology Program, is featured in a Stat "Science Happens" video on her lab's research on fruitflies and the mysteries of sleep.
Amita Sehgal, PhD, Penn Medicine Neuroscientist Elected to the National Academy of Science
May 19, 2016
Amita Sehgal, PhD, a professor of Neuroscience and director of the Chronobiology Program, is featured in a Stat "Science Happens" video on her lab's research on fruitflies and the mysteries of sleep.
Coordination
May 17, 2016
Led by Amita Sehgal of Medicine, researchers have found that a rhythm of cellular detox in flies and mammals is synchronized by a neuropeptide that also drives feeding.
Neural Circuits
May 03, 2016
A new NIH grant will allow PIK Prof Michael Platt to continue work on social functions in the brain, which could ultimately aid those with autism or schizophrenia.
PIK Professor Michael Platt Earns $2.9 Million NIH Award for Neural Circuitry Work
May 03, 2016
Michael Platt of the University of Pennsylvania has received a five-year, $2.9 million Method to Extend Research In Time, or MERIT, award from the National Institute of Mental Health to continue his work on the neural circuits that mediate complex social cognition.
Penn Researchers’ Theory: Brain’s Location-tracking Cells Use Transcendental Number System
March 31, 2016
Vijay Balasubramanian and grad student Xue-Xin Wei of Arts & Sciences have a new theory for how the brain keeps track of locations on a mental map.
Both Sides Now: Dopamine, the Brain's "Reward" Molecule, also Controls Learning to Avoid an Unpleasant Experience, Penn Animal Study Finds.
February 29, 2016
The brain chemical dopamine regulates how mice learn to avoid a disagreeable encounter, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “We know that dopamine reinforces ‘rewarding’ behaviors, but to our surprise, we have now shown that situations that animals learn to avoid are also regulated by dopamine,” said senior author John Dani, PhD, chair of the department of Neuroscience. The team’s findings are published on March 1st, 2016 in Cell Reports.
Research Star
February 26, 2016
Congratulations to Matthew Kayser for receiving the 2016 Sloan Fellowship Award given to early-career scientists seen as industry leaders.
Congratulations to Josh Gold and Joe Kable on their $1,000,000 award from NSF!
August 25, 2015
Penn Neuroscientists Receive $1 Million "BRAIN" Grant from National Science Foundation. Award supports the study of norepinephrine's role in individual differences in learning.
Dr. Marc Fuccillo, Assistance Professor Neuroscience, has won the McCabe Fund Award for his especially meritorious proposal exploring the neural circuits neuropsychiatric disease.
August 01, 2015
Go Green
March 21, 2006
Medicine's Peter Sterling called for scientists to reduce their carbon footprint while engaging in professional activities, particularly when traveling for research meetings.
Contact Us
Department of Neuroscience
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
415 Curie Blvd
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Fax: (215) 573-0833
(215) 898-8754
Email Us
