NGG News Archive

  • NGG member, Heath Schmidt from Penn Nursing and an a associate professor of psychiatry seek to understand the relationship between parental nicotine use and addiction risk of their children. Read More

  • Mathias Basner of the Perelman School of Medicine study discusses the effects of astronauts’ cognitive performance. Read More

  • Vijay Balasubramanian, a NGG member did an interview with Quanta Magazine discussing his work and the connections he sees between neuroscience, physics and humanities.

  • NGG member, Elizabeth Heller and her lab aim to uncover how drug addiction can create long lasting effects in genes. Read More

  • NGG member, Michael Platt, NGG student, Camille Testard and other researchers published an study in Science Advances. They found that the number of social connections an individual animal has predicts the size of their brain which in part responsible for their social decision making. Read More

  • Penn researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, including NGG member D. Kacy Cullen developed a new approach for repairing nerve injuries that preserves muscle function in rodents and their findings are published in Bioactive Materials. Read More

  • NGG member Roy Hamilton and Penn Medicine researcher demonstrated that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may help stimulate brain repair. Read More

 

  • NGG member, Kathryn Wellen of the Perelman School of Medicine investigate the links between diet and cancer.  Read More

 

  • NGG member Adrianna (Anna) Jenkins and MindCORE postdoctoral fellow Rista Plate seek to understand people’s pandemic worries and how it affects their social behavior. Read More

 

 

  • NGG member Michael Platt and Peter Sterling of the Perelman School of Medicine seek to understand why alcohol and drug related deaths are on the rise in the U.S., while it’s decreasing in other countries. Read More

 

  • Members from the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Science including NGG member, Brain Chow and students from his lab has published an article in Nature Chemical Biology discovering a new protein that can be controlled by light and temperature can lead to controlling cellular pathways. Read More

 

  • Erica Korb, NGG faculty member, discusses the intersection between epigenetics and neuroscience. Read More

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  • Yale University’s Julia Leonard and NGG faculty member Allyson Mackey published an article discussing the way parents talk to their toddlers is associated with persistence in early childhood. Read More

 

 

  • NGG faculty member, Vijay Balasubramanian, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati and Eugenio Piasini published article explores how the brain processes visual information about textures. Read More

 

 

 

 

  • Jean Bennett, NGG faculty member and Albert Maguire from the Perelman School of Medicine were featured in Scientific American in their development of gene therapy to treat blindness in patients.

 

  • Congrats to Ashley Robbins for being awarded the Trainee Professional Development Award from the Society of Neuroscience (SFN). 

 

  • Congrats to Barbara Terzic, a recent NGG graduate on her recent publication, "Temporal manipulation of Cdkl5 reveals essential postdevelopmental functions and reversible CDKL5 deficiency disorder–related deficits." Read Here

 

  • D. Kacy Cullen, a NGG faculty member worked alongside Qunzhou Zhang and Anh Le from the School of Dental Medicine to develop an approach to repair peripheral nerves that relies on stem cells. Read More

 

  • Penn researchers including a NGG Faculty member, Amit Bar-Or showed that MRNA COVID-19 vaccines are effective at inducing robust T-cell responses even if the B cells are muted. Read More

 

  • Rebecca Kamen new exhibition titled “Reveal: The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery” at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center was inspired by the work done by Dani Bassett (NGG Faculty member) and her lab, and American University professor Perry Zurn. Dale Zhou, NGG student, has depicted Kamen’s idea-generating process in a Nature article in which he was a second author on.

 

  • Flavia Vitale, a NGG faculty member is working on developing new technologies that help study the brain. Read More

 

  • Penn Medicine researchers, including a NGG Faculty member Xiaolu Yan has published an article in Nature that highlights new approaches that could restore a biological system to prevent diseases. Read More

 

 

  • César de la Fuente, a NGG faculty member developed LEAD (Low-cost Electrochemical Advanced Diagnostic) which is a cost-effective COVID-19 test that is made accessible to low-income communities just by changing the building materials of electrodes. Read More

 

  • Congrats to Alexis Crockett, Nitsan Goldstein, and Camille Testard for being awarded the Blavatnik Family Fellowship in Biomedical Research for the coming academic year!

 

  • Congratulations to NGG faculty member, Dr. Yun Ding, who has been named one of the 2021 Searle Scholars for her research "Evolutionary pattern of neural circuits in generating behavioral diversification."

 

  • Congratulations to Felicia Davatolhagh who is a recipient of the NIH Outstanding Scholars in Neuroscience Award (OSNAP)

 

  • Congratulations to the following students for their successful applications to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP) this year: Sophia Villiere (awarded), Julia Riley (awarded), Sophie Rogers (honorable mention), Ethan Blackwood (honorable mention), Maeve Coughlan (honorable mention), Rachel Herman (honorable mention), and Marissa Maroni (honorable mention). Great job to all of you, and to all of the students who applied!

 

  • Allyson Mackey, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts & Sciences and graduate student found that children who are from a lower income backgrounds and those who experience adverse childhood experiences get their first molars sooner. Read More

 

  • Penn and CHOP researchers led by Kelly Jordan-Sciutto of the School of Dental Medicine and Judy Grinspan of the Perelman School of Medicine and CHOP aimed to isolate the effect of HIV on this process. Read More

 

 

  • A team of researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), led by Jorge Iván Alvarez found a link between a leaky blood-brain barrier and mental disorders. Read More

 

  • The Perelman School of Medicine researchers, including Anjan Chatterjee found that neurological motor dysfunction experienced by people with Parkinson's disease impacts their perception and valuation of art. Read More

 

 

 

  • Congratulations to Nabil Darwich for being selected as this year’s Flexner Award winner for his thesis, “Structure and Function of a Disease Associated Tau Disaggregase”, completed under the supervision of Eddie Lee, MD, PhD. The Louis B. Flexner Award, sponsored by the Mahoney Institute for Neurosciences, is given for outstanding thesis work in the Neurosciences.

 

 

  • The Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor Michael Platt was featured in a LinkedIn Live event series hosted by the Wharton School Press to discuss his new book, “The Leader’s Brain: Enhance Your Leadership, Build Stronger Teams, Make Better Decisions, and Inspire Greater Innovation with Neuroscience.” Read More

 

  • Heath Schmidt, an associate professor of the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Nursing found that anti-craving circuits in the brain could reduce cocaine craving-induced relapse… Read More

 

  • Corey McMillan, an associate Professor of Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine is studying how neurogenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease manifest in people… Read More

 

  • Assistant Professor Neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine H. Isaac Chen have been working closely with a neurosurgeon at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center to seek ways to improve how people function neurologically. H. Isaac Chen believes that a brain organoid could rebuild brain circuitry… Read More

 

  • The Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor Michael Platt Lab explains what happens in the brain when it comes to the decision-making process… Read More

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  • PhD student Sarah Reitz and the Max Kelz Lab have a new paper in Current Biology. Sarah and the Kelz Lab identified a population of neurons in the hypothalamus region of the brain that keeps mice from sleeping when they normally would when they are activated. Read more here.

 

  • Erika Holzbaur, William Maul Measey Professor in Physiology, was chosen by the Women in Cell Biology Committee (WICB) of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) as the recipient of the 2020 Sandra K. Masur Senior Leadership Award for her mentorship, teaching, leadership, and science.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Hannah Loo is the founder of Project Short, an organization of volunteer students who offer pro-bono consulting for medical and graduate school admissions.

 

 

  • Virginia Lee and Robert Mach of the Perelman School of Medicine, and E. James Petersson of the School of Arts & Sciences discovered a method for identifying molecules that can track the progression of Parkinson’s disease. Read More

 

 

  • Nancy Bonini, Shelley Berger and former research associate Raffaella Nativio from the Perelman School of Medicine has discovered epigenetic drivers for Alzheimer’s disease. Read More 

 

  • Kathryn Davis, an assistant professor of neurology in the Penn Epilepsy Center at the Perelman School of Medicine, lab worked on identifying regions of the brain where seizures happen. This project was sponsored by CURF, MindCORE and Littlejohn. Read More

 

 

  • Alumnus Ian McLaughlin, PhD has been selected to be a Rutger’s University Eagleton Science and Politics Fellow. During 2020-2021, Ian will serve as a full-time science advisor in New Jersey state government and will assist in the development and implementation of state policy for issues ranging from COVID-19 response, clean energy, education, mental health, and others.

 

  • Joe Kable, a professor of Psychology examines how people make decisions during a pandemic at a psychological and biological level. Read More 

 

  • Dani Bassett, a neuroscientist and professor of Bioengineering , Jordan Dworkin a graduate student statistician Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Bioinformatics, and Perry Zurn, an assistant professor at American University found evidence of gender and systemic bias in neuroscience literature and discussed ways for combatting it. Read More 

 

  • Matt Kayser, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, one of the authors of the study, Social Behavioral Deficits with Loss of Neurofibromin Emerge from Peripheral Chemosensory Neuron Dysfunction, discussed  potential new therapeutic targets that could treat ASD- related symptoms. Read More 

 

  • Penn researchers Ari Kahn (NGG PhD. Student), Danielle Bassett (NGG professor) and Christopher Lynn (Physics PhD. Student) has developed a new model that shows how the brain detects patterns in complex networks. Read More

 

  • Congratulations to the following students for their successful applications to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP) this year: 

    Michael Murphy (awarded), Hannah Loo (awarded), Valerie Sydnor (awarded), Catrina Hacker (honorable mention), Marcos Sanchez-Navarro (honorable mention), Yuzhang Chen (honorable mention), Katie Copley (honorable mention), and Gianna Perez (honorable mention) . Great job to all of you, and to all of the students who applied! Read More

 

  • David Raizen from the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues from the University of Nevada, Reno finds that excess weight can cause sleep loss. Read More

 

  • Anna Schapiro, an assistant professor of the School of Arts and Sciences and peers from the University of Colorado Boulder has conducted a study on the rising levels of CO2 concentrations that may reduce decision making abilities and complex thinking. Read More

 

  • Vijay Balasubramanian, a professor of Neuroscience, and others published an article that describes the optimal size for a bacteria’s immune repertoire and provides fundamental theoretical insights into how CRISPR works. Read More

 

  • Dani Bassett has been named an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Fellow. Read More

 

  • Dani Bassett of the School of Engineering and Applied Science discussed her work in studying curiosity and the mechanisms behind it on WERA radio Arlington. Read More

 

  • Kelly Jordan-Sciutto of the School of Dental Medicine, and Stewart Anderson of CHOP and the Perelman School of Medicine co mentored doctoral student Sean Ryan has created a model to study three distinct brain cell types that shows how HIV infection impacts the central nervous system. Read More

 

  • Michael Platt, a PIK professor of neuroscience at the Perelman School of Medicine was interviewed by Wharton Business and Daily.  Michael Platt discusses the science behind political advertisement. Read More

 

 

  • Akhilesh Reddy and other researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania found that the circadian rhythms do not need the Bmal1 gene in order to function.   Read More

 

  • Faculty members of the Perelman School of Medicine, including Ethan Goldberg, an assistant professor of Neurology wish to expand access to genetic testing to all children with epilepsy in hopes of providing pathways for treatment. Read More

 

  • Yun Ding, an assistant professor of biology, studies the courtship process in fruit flies to learn how their brains and genes evolve to change their behaviors. Read More

 

  • Erica Korb, an assistant professor in the Department of Genetics lab, was one of the 126 recipients of the 2020 Sloan Research Fellowship, where they recognize early-career researchers and scholars in the United States and Canada. Read More

 

  • Hongjun Song and Guo-li Ming who are Perelman Professors of Neuroscience and Donald O’Rourke who is Professor in Neurosurgery are authors of a new study that shows how lab-grown brain organoids developed from a patient’s glioblastoma. These glioblastoma organoids could be use as effective models for treatment strategies. Read More

 

  • Rebecca Waller, an assistant professor of psychology and Nicholas Wagner of Boston University published an article called, “Less imitation of arbitrary actions is a specific developmental precursor to callous–unemotional traits in early childhood”. They found that children who were fearless and have little desire for social interaction were more likely to develop antisocial behaviors. Read More

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  • With a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, John Wolfe of the Perelman School of Medicine is studying gene therapy methods to combat lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs). Read More

 

  • Faculty here at Penn use their free time to raise awareness about various issues. Marc Schmidt, a biology professor, uses his spare time to raise money for research on Tourette syndrome by selling Liège Waffles. Read More

 

  • Cesar de la Fuenta, a sythetic biologist, and his team are currently working on developing computer-generated antibiotics.  Read More

 

  • As eating disorders are growing more prevalent amongst the youth, Jena Shaw Tronieri, an assistant professor of psychaitry have shared her recent work. Jena Shaw Tronieri discusses how to identify symptoms and how to support those who are diagnosed. Read More

 

  • Dr. Beverly Davidson, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, will be leading a series about the use of gene therapy to treat Alzheimer’s disease at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Read More

 

  • Michael Kahana, a neuroscientist and professor, worked alongside colleagues and found that electrical activity in the brain looks similar during spatial navigation and episodic memory recall.  Read More

 

  • Penn researchers, Allyson Mackey and Dylan Tisdall are working towards improving neuroimaging to calculate the level of opioid exposure in children from 3 to 5 years of age. Read More

 

  • Penn encourages a culture of innovation. Danielle Bassett engages in a conversation with Duncan Watts, who has recently joined as the University’s 23rd Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, to discuss how both of their academic networks are intertwine with basic and applied science here at Penn. Read More

 

  • Heath Schmidt, a neuropharmacologist and the director of Laboratory of Neuropsychopharmacology, and colleagues a published article about treating opioid use disorder. Read More

 

  • Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, a biologist in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, studies how our nervous system translate sensations to the brain. Read more

 

  • Guo-Li Ming, The Perelman Professor of Neuroscience was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Read More

 

  • H. Issac Chen, an assistant professor of neurosurgery, and colleagues published a paper in Cell Stem Cell addressing the ethical framework involving the transplantation of brain organoids into animals to study neurological diseases and other disorders. Read More

 

  • Martha Farah, a Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the Natural Sciences, discussed that there commonalities in all fields and  students are able to interpret data because of the skills they have developed. Read More   

 

  • Danielle Bassett and a neuroscience graduate student name Jennifer Stiso published a study in the Cell Reports journal examines the patterns of brain activity during brain simulation therapy. Read More

 

  • On Penn Today, Konrad Kording discussed the connection between minds and machines, and its relation to popular culture. Find out more

 

  • Yvette Sheline M.D. and Greg Bashaw Ph.D. are recipients of the 2019 Penn Medicine Awards of Excellence. Read More

 

  • MindCORE, one of the programs in the School of Arts and Sciences participates in various outreach programs that is committed to bringing research into the community. Elizabeth Brannon and her team spent the summer conducted studies at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Read More

 

  • Marisa Bartolomei, the Perelman Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology co-led the Penn Academy for Reproductive Sciences program that informed high school girls about women’s health. Read More

 

  • Students are learning from professors like Michael Platt who bridge together the humanities and sciences to bring in interdisciplinary approach to their classrooms.  Read More

 

  • Virginia Lee of the Perelman School of Medicine receives the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Read More

 

  • Gideon Nave and colleagues found no evidence that suggest that there was an association between testosterone and cognitive empathy. Read More

 

  • Thomas Parsons, the director of Penn Vet’s Swine Teaching and Research Center, aims to generate a more sustainable environment and improve animal welfare at the swine unit. Read More

 

  • Robert Mach, the co- principal investigator of Penn PACE teamed up with Penn’s departments of Radiology and Psychiatry to create a new Center of Excellence that focuses on using neuroimaging to better understand opioid usage amongst patients battling them. Read More

 

  • Smart email systems uses artificial intelligence to predict what we may write next. Maria Geffen said, “Prediction is fundamental to our perception and our relation with the world”.  Read More

 

  • Michael Platt, PIK professor and post doc Arjun Ramakrishnan designed a wearable tool that monitors brain activity. Read More

 

  • Martha Farah, the founding director of Penn’s Center for Neuroscience and Society (CNS) celebrates their 10th year. Read More

 

  • Johannes Burge, neuroscientist and his team discovered that monovision can cause misperceptions of the distance and 3D moving objects. Read More

 

 

 

 

 

  • NGG's Mike Kahana speaks with the New York Times about about transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and age-related memory decline.  Read the Full Article Here

 

  • NGG's Guo-Li Ming and Hongjun Song discover the source of new neurons in the hippocampus. Their findings may help neuroscientists figure out how to maintain youthful conditions for learning and memory, and repair and regenerate parts of the brain after injury and aging. Read more here

 

  • NGG's Graduate-Led Initiatives and Activities (GLIA) committee regards community outreach as an integral part of their mission. Read more to learn about their important efforts at the Kids Judge! Neuroscience Fair. Read More

 

  • NGG's Ishmail Abdus-Saboor has been named The Mitchell J. Blutt and Margo Krody Blutt Presidential Professor. Read more here

 

  • At Penn’s new Center for Neuroaesthetics, director Anjan Chatterjee of NGG explores the neural basis of beauty, art, design, and architecture. Chatterjee discusses the burgeoning field and his goals for the center with Philadelphia magazine.  Read article

 

  • An international consortium on Alzheimer’s genetics analyzed more than 94,000 individuals to help determine underlying causes of the disease. The team, led by NGG's Gerard Schellenberg, found that their data implicated the immune system, lipid metabolism, and amyloid precursor protein metabolism as potential contributing factors.  Read More

 

  • NGG's David Raizen has been published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience. The study, which follows sleep deprivation, proposes that the purpose of standard sleep differs from that of recovery sleep. Read the full article here

 

  • Congratulations to NGG's Maja Bucan. Dr. Bucan has been appointed as the Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Research Training and Director of Biomedical Postdoctoral Programs. Read more 

 

  • Sick and tired? NGG's Amita Sehgal has found a protein that puts flies to sleep and fights infection. Read NPR article here 

 

  • In an interview with Omnia, NGG's Joseph Kable explains why humans are struggling to make decisions about climate change. Read more here 

 

 

  • A New Treatment for Blindness Comes From Gene Therapy.  NGG's Jean Bennett is cracking the code to allow certain patients to see again.  Read Smithsonian article

 

  • Children living with HIV can lead healthy lives with treatment but may face long-term difficulties with learning and cognition. NGG's Ruben Gur is headed to Botswana in January to address the challenges. Gur's team will assess cognitive functioning in hundreds of children, fleshing out what’s known about the virus’ neurodevelopmental effects. Read more

 

  • Research led by NGG's Gideon Nave found that people with larger brains rated higher on measures of intelligence and educational attainment. But size explains only about 2 percent of the variation in smarts. Read more

 

  • Research led by NGG's Brian Chow has discovered a protein in a type of fungus that functions like a molecular elevator, transporting itself from the inside of a cell to the surface in response to light. Experimentally manipulating this mechanism may facilitate the study of a variety of diseases. Read more

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  • Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in people older than 50. NGG's Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia has developed a model system that mimics many features of the human condition, giving scientists a platform to gain a deeper understanding of risk factors and possible treatments. Read more
     
  • Penn Medicine and Wharton are launching an executive health care leadership program. Instrumental in establishing the new program was NGG's Caryn Lerman.  Read more
     
  • NGG's John Wolfe is part of a collaboration that is attempting to develop a stem-cell-based approach that restores vision.
    Read here 
     
  • Chinese Scientists have recently broke the rules of reproduction by breeding mice from single-sex parents. NGG's Marisa Bartolomei provides expert insight to Smithsonian Magazine.Read here
     
  • The Gold Lab has embraced the use of Electronic Research Notebooks. The software platform, LabArchives, allows for the efficient documentation and sharing of data.  Read more to hear from Grad Student Kyra Schapiro and Professor Josh Gold
     
  • Narratives and Immersion. NGG's Anjan Chatterjee discusses the psychology behind binge-watching.  Read article 
     
  • NGG's Alice Chen-Plotkin is leading the MIND Initiative, which will use precision medicine to study the genetic makeup of people with Parkinson’s disease.  Read article
     
  • The teenage brain is still figuring out the parameters for “normal.” As a result, it is quicker to adapt to any repeated stimuli, including drug addictions. To guide these highly plastic brain regions in the right direction, NGG's Frances Jensen advises parents to step in occasionally to make the calls.  Read More
     
  • Artificial-intelligence systems “are rather pathetic at composing music or writing short stories,” says NGG and PIK Professor Konrad Kording. “They have great trouble reasoning meaningfully in the world.”  Read more in Wired
     
  • NGG's Ishmail Abdus-Saboor has been featured on the local CBS news!  Check it out here 
     
  • Congratulations to NGG's own Amit Bar-Or for receiving The Lady Barbara Colyton Prize for Autoimmune Research. 
    View full list of awards
     
  • NGG's James Eberwine is co-leading a multi-disciplinary team in developing cutting-edge technologies that can assess the genetic material inside individual compartments of single cells. The new Center for Sub-Cellular Genomics aims to revolutionize and personalize therapies for diseases such as bipolar disorder, autism, and Alzheimer’s disease. Read more 
     
  • Psoriasis often appears contagious even though it is not. To quantify the stigmatization that sufferers face, researchers co-led by NGG's Rebecca Pearl polled the general population as well as medical students, and found that those who were more educated about the skin condition demonstrated fewer stigmatizing attitudes. Read the full article
     
  • A team co-led by NGG's Gideon Nave replicated 21 high-profile social science studies and found discrepancies with the original research, including eight studies that failed to find significant evidence for their results. Researchers betting in prediction markets, however, were accurate at predicting which findings would replicate. Read More
     
  • Treatments for Parkinson’s disease are most effective when administered early. Biomarkers, such as proteins in the blood, are one way that doctors can catch the disease before it progresses, and researchers led by NGG's Alice Chen-Plotkin are shaping the future of biomarker studies.  Read More 
     
  • Congratulations to NGG student Cedric Xia! Cedric has been selected as one of six inaugural Blavatnik Family Fellows. 
    Read more about the fellowship here 
     
  • NGG's James Shorter and Nancy Bonini are studying a class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors, which could be useful in treating and preventing brain disorders. The drug works by halting the misplacement of specific proteins that affect nerve cells. Read More
     
  • NGG's Theodore Sattherthwaite is using machine learning to identify brain-based dimensions of mental health disorders, an advance towards much-needed biomarkers to more accurately diagnose and treat patients. Read More 
     
  • NGG's Marisa Bartolomei, speaking with Smithsonian Magazine, praised new research indicating that fathers can influence maternal care through the paternal genes. “This is the first time we’ve seen that the genes of the fetus affect parental care, irrespective of the mother’s genes. This isn’t an idea that [many scientists] have talked about.” Read the article
     
  • NGG's Roberto Bonasio speaks with The New York Times about the difficulties of studying insulin signaling in ants. The relevant genes, says Bonasio, are involved in numerous bodily functions, making it tough to isolate their role in differentiating queens from workers. Read the article
     
  • Recent data-protection laws don’t just focus on targeted ads; they also curb the advances of data science that have made targeted ads possible. NGG's Gideon Nave, along with other Wharton professors, looks at the effects of increased protection for consumers and companies.  Read the full article
     
  • Research from NGG's Roy Hamilton shows that using minimally invasive electrical currents on the prefrontal cortex can reduce the intention to carry out physical and sexual assault.  Read More
     
  • Status symbols, like a luxury car or brand-name denim, may not function any better than their lower-status counterparts, but they do convey a message about the owner’s position on the social ladder. A new study led by NGG's Gideon Nave found that a single dose of testosterone was enough to boost men’s preference for higher-status goods, pointing to a biological basis for consumer behavior.  Read More
     
  • Congrats to NGG's very own Sharon Thompson-Schill and Michael Kahana!  Both professors were recently honored with the Psychonomic Society Mid-Career Award, given for exceptional contributions to the field of experimental and cognitive psychology.   Read more 
     
  • Across disciplines, researchers in the Computational Neuroscience Initiative put their heads together to better understand the brain. The CNI was started by three NGG faculty - Vijay Balasubramanian, David Brainard, and Joshua Gold. The goal is to create a space where faculty, students, and postdocs can share ideas. The research could have implications for everything from neurodegenerative diseases to artificial intelligence.  Read the full article 
     
  • NGG's Gideon Nave is part of a multi-campus team that has looked at how music preferences predict human behavior. “In what way can we predict people’s personalities based on their musical preferences?” he asks. “And what is the link between specific dimensions of musical preferences and personality dimensions?” Full link with audio
     
  • Congratulations to NGG's very own Shinjae Chung, PhD!  Dr. Chung is the recipient of the Individual Biomedical Research Award given by the Hartwell foundation. The award is highly competitive, with only 12 given, and provides support of $100,000 annually for a 3-year span. A well-deserved award!  Click here for more information
     
  • It’s long been known that someone’s previous choices subconsciously affect those he or she makes in the future. Now research from NGG's Alan Stocker points to why: to maintain consistency in decision making. The findings could pave the way for a deeper investigation into how such thought processes work.   Read more
     
  • The health care system is growing more complex every day, and future health care leaders will need the skillsets to keep up. In an op-ed for the New England Journal of Medicine, NGG's Caryn Lerman offered three strategies to cultivate the next generation. Read more here
     
  • NGG's Michael Kahana is looking to track, understand, and improve human memory. His findings may help patients with a broad range of ailments relating to memory loss, such as Alzheimer’s disease.  Read the full article
     
  • Different Parkinson’s-related brain disorders are characterized by misfolded proteins embedded in cells. A team led by NGG's Virginia Lee discovered that the type of cell affected dictates which disease strain may emerge. The finding, published in Nature, is the first of its kind for a neurodegenerative brain disorder.  Read the full article
     
  • Research from NGG's Heath Schmidt revealed that drugs already approved by the FDA to treat diabetes and obesity may reduce cocaine relapse and help people who are addicted break the habit.   Read the full article 
     
  • NGG's Amelia Eisch is looking at the brain to fine-tune specific neurological circuits to thwart major depressive disorder, the most common mental illness.  Read the full article 
     
  • Extended time in front of a computer screen can be bad for your eyes. “When we stare at something like a computer screen,” says NGG's Joshua Dunaief, “we don’t blink as much as we normally would. Our blink reflex is suppressed and that’s a problem because blinking is important for continued lubrication on the surface of your eye. If you allow the surface of the eye to dry out, things become blurry and your eyes become uncomfortable.”  Read More
     
  • The structure and function of the brain—specifically the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, and the connections between the two—are linked to how willing a person is to take risks, according to new research from NGG's Joseph Kable and Caryn Lerman. “It’s a feature of decision-making,” Kable says, “that has manifold effects throughout the lifespan.”  Read the full article 
     
  • Finding food is a necessary survival skill, but so is avoiding pain. Research led by NGG's Nicholas Betley showed that being hungry activates a neural pathway that inhibits the sensing and responding to chronic pain. The findings offer up new targets for treating pain.  Read the full article
     
  • Fraudulent scientific papers may now be spotted by images, owing to a new technique developed by NGG's Konrad Kording. His algorithm can compare images across journal articles and detect replicas passed off as the experiment’s very own, even if the image has been resized, rotated, or cropped.   Read More
     
  • NGG's Vijay Balasubramanian shared some of his memories of Stephen Hawking and discusses his impact on scientists and nonscientists alike.  Read the full article
     
  • Past research conducted by NGG's Martha Farah has inspired a new documentary, "Take Your Pills" which is now available on Netflix. Read more for an NPR interview with the director, Alison Klayman.  Read more
     
  • Congrats to Shinjae Chung, who studies the neural circuits underlying sleep and emotional brain function, who has been awarded the 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships for her early-career achievements. Read the full article
     
  • NGG alum Greg Dunn has created a 12-by-8 foot portrait of a brain made from “Self Reflected,” a 12-by-8 foot portrait of a brain made from 25 etched plates and hand gilded with 1,750 sheets of gold leaf. The piece is now on exhibition at The Franklin Institute. Read the full Article
     
  • The brain’s lateral temporal lobe is one of the regions affected early in Alzheimer’s disease. A study which included NGG's Nancy Bonini found disease-specific modifications to the structure of DNA that could be targets for early treatment.  Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Matthew Kayser used the fruit fly to figure out how sleep problems are linked to mental illness. In larvae, they found that sleep loss impairs cell division in their budding neurons. But, when larvae slept, nerve cells multiplied.  Click here for video
     
  • Sometimes researchers are inspired to adopt pets they meet in their biomedical-science work. Among them: NGG's Jean Bennett, who adopted Mercury and Venus, a pair of dogs treated for vision impairments with therapy developed by the researcher.  Click for article/cute dogs
     
  • The Restoring Active Memory program, led by NGG's Michael Kahana, is one step closer to creating a fully implantable neural monitoring and stimulation system. Read the full article
     
  • Wharton conference configures a "road map" for neuroscience and business. Speakers include NGG's Martha Farah and Michael Platt.  Read more
     
  • NGG's Vijay Balasubramanian applies physics methodologies to study information processing in the brain. "The brain can make us fall in love, whereas the computer hardly recognizes a face," he said.  Read the full article
     
  • Detailed anatomical drawings that show how muscles and bones are connected have existed for centuries, but they are only now being put together into a comprehensive map of the human body. NGG's Danielle Bassett has published a first-of-its-kind study outlining the musculoskeletal network.The model could help predict how an injury to one part of the body may lead to a compensatory injury in another. Read the full article
     
  • Testosterone causes men to leap before they look, according to a study led by NGG's Gideon Nave. But Nave cautions against oversimplification. “I would actually be surprised if most of the differences in complex social behavior could be explained by it,” he told The Gazette, “because we live in a world where society treats women and men differently.” 
    Read the full article
     
  • Postdoc Gaia Tavoni is working with NGG's Josh Gold and Vijay Balasubramanian to investigate how sensory stimuli, such as odors, can trigger learning and memories.  Read the full article
     
  • Researchers led by NGG's Virginia Lee have found that certain plaques in mouse brains facilitate the rapid spread of a pathological protein, which impairs cognitive functions such as memory. Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest new strategies for treating patients with Alzheimer’s. Read the full article

Close

  • NGG's Matthew Hayes is part of a research team which has demonstrated a new method of preventing peptides from degrading, which could lead to more stable drugs and better imaging probes. Read the full article
     
  • Hunger can be an unpleasant sensation. According to a new study led by NGG's Nick Betley, ingesting calorie-containing food is the primary way to calm the activity of a group of neurons responsible for driving an animal to eat. Targeting these neurons could provide a strategy to treat obesity. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Geoffrey Aguirre and David Brainard examined how a light pulse, undetectable to most of the eye, evokes a neural response that may explain over-sensitivity to bright light. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Danielle Basset has received the Lagrange-CRT Foundation Prize. Her research as a network neuroscientist combines knowledge from disparate fields to craft a deeper understanding of how the physical organization of a brain influences learning, multi-tasking and creativity. Read the full article
     
  • By uncovering the mechanisms behind mutations of the TMEM106B gene in cutting-edge function studies, NGG's Alice Chen-Plotkin is shedding light on thecause of certain neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia. It’s a critical step in the development of new therapeutics. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Michael Platt found that stimulating a region of the brain called the posterior cingulate cortex can lead to changes in routine behavior. Neurons there ramp up their firing rates, then peak just before a pattern shifts. Knowing this could help businesses better understand how to spur employee innovation, exploration and creativity.  Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Hao Wu has received the New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health. Read the full article 
     
  • Get off the phone!  NGG's Frances Jensen discusses why giving a young person all-the-time access to an internet-connected device may be "playing with fire."  Read the full article
     
  • Research led by NGG's Guo-li Ming and Hongjun Song of found that a chemical tag added to RNA during embryonic development regulates how the early brain grows. Relating mistakes in this process to genes prevalent in psychiatric disorders may shed light on autism and schizophrenia.  Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Vijay Balasubramanian is one of the principal investigators of "It from Qubit: Simons Collaboration on Quantum Fields, Gravity and Information," which probes the fundamental nature of reality. The group includes researchers from five other countries who hope to determine if a subtle property of quantum information is giving rise to the structure of space and gravity.  Read the full article
     
  • Who wants to save Monkey Island? NGG's Michael Platt is part of a great effort to rebuild the longest-running primate research site in the world.  Read the full article
     
  • By studying healthy neurons and cells from people with brain disorders, Dr. Erika Holzbaur's lab plans to find out how these cells perform a cleanup process called mitophagy, and how the process might be corrected when something goes wrong.
    Read the full article
     
  • What do physics, engineering, network theory and neuroscience have in common? NGG's Danielle Bassett of works at the intersection of these fields!  Read the full article
     
  • Using CRISPR technology, NGG's Roberto Bonasio genetically engineered Indian jumping ants to better understand their social and reproductive behavior. “Social insects such as ants are outstanding models,” Bonasio said..  Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Maja Bucan and Edward Brodkin will lead the Asperger Syndrome Program of Excellence, which aims to improve understanding of the genetic disorder and energize the international research and clinical community.  Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Gerard Schellenberg found three new gene variants that are part of the brain’s immune cells and that contribute to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The genes provide clear protein targets to start drug interventions that may alter the chances of getting the disease...  Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Martha Farah discusses how science and imaging technology have demonstrated that socioeconomic disparities can alter brain structures.  Watch Video
     
  • NGG's Danielle Bassett has suggested that "Control Theory" is key to improving neurological therapies while mitigating side effects.  Read full article
     
  • NGG's Caryn Lerman and Joe Kable investigate online brain training.  Read full article
     
  • NGG's Nirinjini Naidoo has found links between social isolation and sleep loss, which in turn lead to cellular stress. A biological defense mechanism is triggered due to the stress and over a long period of time can contribute to the aging process and age-related diseases.  Read the full article
     
  • NGG's James Shorter has captured a high-resolution view of an enzyme that naturally works to break up protein tangles so they acquire the correct shape.  Read the full article
     
  • NGG Faculty Russell Epstein alongside NGG alum Michael Bonner have investigated how people understand and navigate through visual scenes.  Read the full article
     
  • Research by NGG's Ted Satterthwaite, Dani Bassett, and PhD candidate Graham Baumare investigating executive functions in adolescents and young adults.  Read the full article
     
  • Will Surgery Sap Your Brain Power? NGG's Roderic Eckenhoff comments.  Read the article
     
  • In one of the largest studies of its kind, a team led by NGG's Professor Michael Platt found that adult female macaques with many close female relatives live longer... The results shed light on the driving forces behind human sociality. Read the full article
     
  • Frances Jensen and Ruben Gur are quoted by Philly.com about young-adult development of the brain. Read the full article
     
  • New Faculty! Incoming PIK Professor Konrad Kording will hold appointments in both Neuroscience and Engineering. Read the full article
     
  • No two neurons genetically alike? NGG's James Eberwine has been quoted in Scientific American as saying, "we were taught that every cell has the same DNA, but that's not true". Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Mike Kahana has shown that an electrical pulse given at a specific time can improve memory function in humans. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia co-led a study that helped identify the molecular underpinnings of a form of macular degeneration. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Russell Epstein discovered that our brains produce similar patterns of activity upon viewing an action, no matter if it’s in a video or a photo. “We think that these might be the building blocks for people’s concepts of such actions,” Epstein said. Read the full article
     
  • NGG’s C. Neill Epperson found that traumatic events and stress as a teen increase the likelihood of depression during menopause. Read the full article
     
  • Research led by NGG's Robert Schultz found a brain biomarker that could help identify children with autism spectrum disorder sooner in life. Read the full article
     
  • How do Songbirds teach themselves songs? NGG's Vijay Balasubramanian investigates Zebrafinches to find out.
    Read the full article
     
  • A mysterious neurological disease once widespread on Guam has captured the attention of NGG’s Virginia Lee , John Trojanowski, and Gerard Schellenberg.
    Read the full article
     
  • Research from NGG's Michael Platt gauges how animals like humans and peacocks acquire information about the world, then make decisions and respond accordingly. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Dr. Joe Kable and 5th-year student Trishala Parthasarathi are weighing instant gratification vs. a more prosperous future. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Brian Chow is among the NSF’s 2017 class of CAREER Award winners. The grants support young researchers.Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Chris Pierce, along with post-doc Matthieu Wimmer, is leading research that suggests that fathers who ingest cocaine may harm the cognitive development of their sons. Read the full article
     
  • Welcome to Penn! Meet our newest Neuroscientists: Drs. Guo-li Ming and Hongjun Song Read more
     
  • By studying microscopic roundworms, NGG's David Raizen was able to pinpoint a group of chemicals in nerve cells that cause sleepiness during illness. Read the full article

  • According to NGG's Rebecca Pearl, internalization of weight bias is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Jim Eberwine has cultured human neuronal cells, which may lead to new treatments for brain disorders. Read the full article

  • New insights into the pathology of dementia by NGG's John Trojanowski could inform the design of clinical trials for emerging therapies. Read the full article

  • World-Renowned Neuroscientist Jay Gottfried has been appointed as Penn's most recent Penn-Integrates-Knowledge (PIK) University Professor. Gottfried will hold appointments in Psychology and Neurology. Read the full article
     
  • A study by NGG’s Maja Bucan finds that essential gene mutations are significantly associated with a higher autism risk and decreased social skills. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Kelly Jordan-Sciutto led work that reveals how certain HIV treatments cause neuronal damage. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Virginia Lee and team have developed a new animal model to study Alzheimer’s disease that more accurately reflects what’s happening in the brains of patients. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Michael Kahana, the principal investigatory for Penn's Restoring Active Memory (RAM) project, has just released an extensive human brain dataset. Read the full article
     
  • NGG'S John Dani revealed how stress alters brain circuitry in relation to alcohol consumption and provided insight on how to restore the proper firing of neurons. Read the full article
     
  • Research led by NGG's Daniel Langleben found that fMRI scans that measure brain activity were more effective at detecting lies than a traditional polygraph test. Read the full article
     
  • NGG’s Daniel Langleben found opioid-dependent patients did not respond to photos of babies like non-dependent people, which may inform the drug’s impact on parenting. Read the full article
     
  • For more than 30 years, NGG's John Trojanowski and Virginia Man-Yee Lee have been conducting Alzheimer's research and have made three major discoveries - all of which have become strong foundations for those working on Alzheimer's disease and related disorders around the world. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's John Trojanowski is working with Penn's Athletics and Student Health to better understand concussions. Read the full article
     
  • A study by NGG's Maja Bucan used 410 mouse strains to identify 52 never-before-discovered mutations related to human diseases. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Edward Brodkin and Ted Abel found that a drug has the potential to increase social interaction for those with autism spectrum disorder. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Seema Bhatnagar is studying disparities between males and females in the brain’s response to stress due to orexin, a neuropeptide. Read the full article
     
  • An interdisciplinary research team, led by NGG's Dani Bassett and including Brian Litt, Kate Davis, and Timothy Lucas, has identified a brain network that controls spread of seizures. Read the full article

Close

  • NGG's Virginia Lee and team have developed a new animal model to study Alzheimer’s disease that more accurately reflects what’s happening in the brains of patients. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Michael Kahana, the principal investigatory for Penn's Restoring Active Memory (RAM) project, has just released an extensive human brain dataset. Read the full article
     
  • NGG'S John Dani revealed how stress alters brain circuitry in relation to alcohol consumption and provided insight on how to restore the proper firing of neurons. Read the full article
     
  • Research led by NGG's Daniel Langleben found that fMRI scans that measure brain activity were more effective at detecting lies than a traditional polygraph test. Read the full article
     
  • NGG’s Daniel Langleben found opioid-dependent patients did not respond to photos of babies like non-dependent people, which may inform the drug’s impact on parenting. Read the full article
     
  • For more than 30 years, NGG's John Trojanowski and Virginia Man-Yee Lee have been conducting Alzheimer's research and have made three major discoveries - all of which have become strong foundations for those working on Alzheimer's disease and related disorders around the world. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's John Trojanowski is working with Penn's Athletics and Student Health to better understand concussions. Read the full article
     
  • A study by NGG's Maja Bucan used 410 mouse strains to identify 52 never-before-discovered mutations related to human diseases. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Edward Brodkin and Ted Abel found that a drug has the potential to increase social interaction for those with autism spectrum disorder. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Seema Bhatnagar is studying disparities between males and females in the brain’s response to stress due to orexin, a neuropeptide. Read the full article
     
  • An interdisciplinary research team, led by NGG's Dani Bassett and including Brian Litt, Kate Davis, and Timothy Lucas, has identified a brain network that controls spread of seizures. Read the full article
     
  • An interdisciplinary research team, led by NGG's Dani Bassett and including Brian Litt, Kate Davis, and Timothy Lucas, has identified a brain network that controls spread of seizures. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Timothy Lucas speaks on "Doc-Talk" about his neurosurgery career, perspective, and time management. Watch video
     
  • NGG's Dani Bassett and Brian Litt are collaborating to better understand and treat epilepsy. Read the full article
     
  • A study led by NGG's Timothy Roberts will analyze boys with two Y-chromosomes to make complex comparisons to better understand autism spectrum disorder. Read the full article
     
  • Sleeplessness leads to impaired memory, and NGG's Ted Abel knows why: A loss of connectivity between neurons. Read the full article
     
  • For 25 years, NGG's John Trojanowski has headed the Alzheimer's Disease Core Center, which has been at the forefront of research on a broad range of dementias. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Martha Farah is running the SCAN program, which enables graduate students across the University to learn about neuroscience and relate it to their own studies. Read the full article
     
  • According to IEEE Pulse, NGG's Danielle Bassett is one of the world's top experts on dynamic network neuroscience, or "how the brain talks to itself." Read the full article
     
  • According to a study led by NGG's Theodore Satterthwaite, heightened blood flow in emotion-processing areas of the brain affects anxiety and mood in females. Read the full article
     
  • Who wants to go to Monkey Island? For more than 20 years, NGG's Michael Platt has studied the relationships of rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, work profiled for autism-research site Spectrum. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Roy Hamilton has written an open letter in the Annals of Neurology warning of the dangers of do-it-yourself brain stimulation. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Gerard Schellenberg will lead a new national clearinghouse to coordinate studies of the genetics and genomics of Alzheimer's Disease. Read the full article
     
  • Researchers led by NGG's Virginia Lee are conducting pioneering research into causes and potential treatments for a group of rare brain atrophy disorders. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Amita Sehgal has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a top honor for U.S. researchers. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Brian Chow has earned the School of Engineering and Applied Science's teaching award for dedication in the classroom. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Amita Sehgal has led research that has found a rhythm of cellular detox in flies and mammals is synchronized by a neuropeptide that also drives feeding. Read the full article
     
  • Eye gaze and congition? NGG's Michael Platt, along with researchers from Harvard and Yale, are using Rhesus Macaques to study long-term developmental patterns associated between the two. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Stewart Anderson has studied how tracing neuron migration offers insight into brain development defects. Read the full article
     
  • Thanks to a new NIH grant, NGG's Michael Platt will continute to work on social functions in the brain, which could ultimately aid those with autism or schizophrenia. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Brian Litt has co-led a study revealing that flexible and dissolvable silicon electronic devices can be used for brain monitoring. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Akiva Cohen is aiming to find whether a set of neurons could be a target to prevent cognitive damage after brain injury. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Tom Jongens is using Fruitfly's point of vision to identify new treatment paths for "Fragile X Syndrome", which causes intellectual disability. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Ted Abel found manipulating the expression of a specific gene in mice blocked the effect of sleep deprivation on memory. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Jean Bennett's extensive opthalmological research has long been complimented by Penn's unique afiliation with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Read her story and others here
     
  • Congratulations to NGG's own Amita Sehgal on her recent election to the National Academy of Sciences. Congratulations, Amita!! Look for a full article coming soon.
     
  • NGG's C. Neill Epperson and Tracy Bale have established the new "Penn Center for Women's Behavioral Wellness". Research is aimed at understanding how disorders present and occur differently between both sexes. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's John Trojanowski is among top specialists working to enrich scholarship on concussions. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Ted Abel is helping to prevent sleepiness-induced memory lapses. Read the full article
     
  • Stimulating a region of the brain called the angular gyrus led to faster comprehension of two-word phrases, a study led by NGG’s Amy Price and Roy Hamilton found. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Alice Chen-Plotkin, studying Parkinson's patients, has identified a genetic variation linked with slower disease progression. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Marisa Bartolomei has helped create new technology to image single genes in individual cells. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Steven Scherer has expanded the number of genetic mutations known to trigger Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a neurodegenerative disorder. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Russell Epstein and Roy Hamilton discovered which region of the brain helps us use boundaries to navigate. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Vijay Balasubramanian has a new theory for how the brain keeps track of locations on a mental map. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's John Trojanowski is formulating diagnostic criteria for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Joshua Dunaief is researching the role of iron overload and oxidative stress in age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. Read the full article
     
  • Spotlight on NGG's Vijay Balasubramanian: Balasubramanian theorizes that the brain's location-tracking cells use a transcendental number system. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Matt Kayser has received a 2016 Sloan Fellowship, awarded to early-career scientists seen as industry leaders. Read the full article
     
  • Blocking the transfer of calcium into mitochondria caused cancer cells to die, a team led by NGG's Kevin Foskett found. The work suggests a new target for therapy. Read the full article
     

  • NGG's Timothy Roberts is co-leading a study looking at neural marker in nonverbal children with autism, a group rarely represented in brain imaging research. Read the full article
     
  • Dopamine reinforces rewarding behaviors, but a study by NGG's John Dani has found that it also contributes to animals learning to avoid an unpleasant experience. Read the full article
     
  • Some painful ligament damage can be too small to see. NGG's Danielle Bassett and Beth Winkelstein use network science to go deeper. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Ruben Gur is involved with "Brain Road Maps", which reflects behavior differences between males and females. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Heath Schmidt, along with other Penn researchers, has repurposed an Alzheimer's drug to help tobacco smokers quit. Read the full article
     
  • NGG Faculty Heath Schmidt, Matthew Hayes, and Bart De Jonghe have shown that a drug used for diabetes and obesity may reduce cocaine dependence. Read the full article
     

  • NGG's Kacy Cullen along with Engineering’s Doug Smith have developed lab-grown neural networks with the ability to repair axonal tracks in the brain for patients with head injuries. Read the full article
     
  • NGG's Kevin Foskett, along with Horia Vais and Karthik Mallilankaraman of Medicine have discovered the gatekeeping mechanism in mitochondria that controls the calcium ion flow. Read the full article
     

  • NGG's Murray Grossman received the Legal Clinic for the Disabled’s highest accolade, the Special Recognition Award, for his work with the disability community. Read the full article
     
  • NGG faculty Danielle Bassett and Brian Litt, along with grad student Ankit Khambhati use network science to show how seizures spread in the brain. Read the full article
     
  • PIK Professor and NGG faculty Michael Platt has discovered that the amygdala, a small structure in the brain, is associated with charitable giving and positive social behavior, not just fear. Read the full article
     
  • Ted Abel elected Fellow of the scientific society AAAS. Read the full article
     
  • Judith Grinspan, NGG student Brigid Jensen, and Kelly Jordan-Sciutto found that HIV drugs, while lifesaving, disrupt certain brain cells. Read the full article
     
  • C. Neill Epperson and Tracy Bale are establishing an NIH-supported career-development program to promote research on sex and gender differences. Read the full article
     
  • Michael Platt, a PIK professor, researches what influences decision making, including the mechanisms in the brain and the impact of the behavior of others. Read the full article
     
  • John Burke and Michael Kahana have found that the brain's hippocampus is essential structure for all aspects of recognition memory. Read the full article
     
  • Jean Bennett has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for her academic research. Read the full article
     
  • Using transparent young Zebrafish as a model, Michael Granato and Jesse Isaacman-Beck found how damaged nerves restablish lost connections. Read the full article
     
  • Anjan Chatterjee discusses the growing use of "smart drugs" in the workplace during appearance on NPR. Listen here!
     
  • Using a series of brain scans, Danielle Bassett is helping to show how maps of neural systems change and crystalize from childhood to adulthood. Read the full article
    2015

  • Bart De Jonghe explains that the metabolic disturbance of obesity can increase both the risk of cancer onset and the rate of tumor growth. Read the full article
     
  • In recognition of her outstanding work and teaching on molecular motors, Erika Holzbaur received the American Neurological Association’s 2015 Bennett Award. Read the full article
     
  • Frances Jensen elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
     
  • A team led by Tracy Bale has shown at the molecular level how stress experienced by a male mouse can influence his offspring’s brain development. Read the full article
     
  • In an illustrated profile in Nautilus, Danielle Bassett explains how changes in the way regions of the brain talk to one another impacts the learning process. Read the full article
     
  • Using lasers to manipulate brain activity; Maria Geffen and Ryan Natan learn the mechanics of auditory understanding: Read the full article
     
  • Spotlight on NGG's Tracy Bale: Research suggesting mothers' stress alters babies' gut and brain. Read the full article
     
  • Sensitivity to odors depends on the length of the sensory cilia and their location in the nasal cavity, according to research by Med’s Rosemary Lewis and Minghong Ma. Read the full article
     
  • In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Caryn Lerman of the Perelman School of Medicine is featured for developing a transcranial direct current brain stimulation test to help smokers quit. Read the full article

  • How are people able to so accurately estimate how fast an object is moving? Johannes Burge helped build a model that shows the brain’s method is nearly ideal. Read the full article
     
  • Danielle Bassett and colleagues from Germany have new insights into how neural connections rearrange themselves when people switch between different tasks. Read the full article
     
  • Bart De Jonghe explains that blocking certain neurotransmitter receptors in the brain alleviates the side effects of chemotherapy, like nausea. Read the full article
     
  • John Trojanowski earns the AANP Award for Meritorious Contributions to Neuropathology for his pioneering neurogenerative disease research. Read the full article
     
  • Understanding the link between sleep loss and aggression; Amita Sehgal and Matthew Kayser examine the behavior of sleep-deprived fruit flies. Read the full article
     
  • Jean Bennett shows success with Vision-Restoring Gene Therapy. Read the full article
     
  • Dr. David Raizen teams with colleagues from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) to study upstream swimming behavior in C. elegansRead the full article
     
  • Martha Farah's research shows the link between childhood socioeconomic status and its relationship to mental health, cognitive ability and academic achievement. Read the full article
     
  • ADHD medications assist menopausal women with executive functions. Study lead by C. Neill Epperson. Read the full article
     
  • Penn names a new Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) professor, Michael Platt. Platt will hold joint appointments in Neuroscience, Psychology and Marketing. Platt is the 16th PIK professor. Read the full article
     
  • The journal Endocrinology publishes paper by Dr. Tracy Bale about the effects of maternal stress on the microbiome. Read the full article
     
  • NGG members Russell Epstein and Isabel Muzzio publish their findings that the mental "Map," and "Compass," that help mice orient themselves are two separate systems. Read the full article
     
  • NGG Faculty Dr. Alice Chen-Plotkin with first-author Christine Swanson, PhD is first scientist to use plasma samples from the Michael J. Fox Foundation's biomarker program to confirm a biomarker for Parkinson's Disease. Read the full article
     
  • Profs. Anjan Chatterjee and Martha Farah contribute to a New York Times discussion about the use of Adderall or similar stimulants in the workplace. Read the full article
     
  • The Penn Current highlights work by Dr. Jorge Alvarez about the protein netrin-1 and its role in the blood-brain barrier. Read the full article  
     
  • Penn News article mentioned NGG Faculty member, Danielle Bassett, PhD and her research on the learning process and its connection with neural activity - "Penn, Johns Hopkins and UCSB Research: Differences in Neural Activity Change Learning Rate"- See article
     

  • Philly.com featured an article by NGG Faculty member, Frances Jensen, MD, about the harmful effects of drugs such as Molly or MDMA on the brains of adolescents and young adults.- "Young minds and ecstasy a harmful mix"- See article here
     
  • NGG students, Kait Folweiler, Patti Murphy, Hannah Shoenhard, Carolyn Keating, and Trish Parthasarathi, were recognized in a Penn Medicine New Blog article for their participation in an outreach program for elementary school students at Independence Charter School.- "Beginner Brain Science" - See article 
     
  • NGG faculty member, David Brainard, PhD was mentioned in an SASFrontiers article which higlights his research on illumination and color vision.- "RRL Professor of Psychology David Brainard examines the intricacies of color vision."- See the article
     
  • Penn News highlights the work of NGG faculty member, James Eberwine, PhD in the PENN Program in Single Cell Biology, which focuses on understanding the biology of single cells.- "New Penn Program Studies the Body’s Cells, One By One" - See the article
     
  • NGG Faculty member Michael Granato's research was mentioned in a Penn Medicine News & Publications article.- "Genomewide Screen of Learning in Zebrafish Identifies Enzyme Important in Neural Circuit"- See the article
     
  • An article in Penn Medicine News & Publications mentions NGG faculty member Corey McMillan, PhD and his recent research. "Penn Medicine Researchers Pinpoint Potential New Drug Target for Protection against Certain Neurodegenerative Diseases"- See the article
     
  • An article in PennNews focuses on the work of NGG faculty member Charles Vite, DVM, Ph.D.- " Penn Vet Researchers Identify Effective Treatment for Niemann Pick Type C"- See the article
     
  • Amita Sehgal, Ph.D, NGG faculty member, was mentioned in a Penn Medicine News & Publications article which highlighted her study on sleep debt and its effects.- "Common Biomarkers of Sleep Debt Found in Humans, Rats, Penn Study Finds"- See the article
     
  • NGG Faculty member James Shorter, Ph.D was mentioned in Penn Medicine News & Publications for his work a yeast protein called Hsp104. -"Penn Study Uncovers Secrets of a Clump-Dissolving Protein"- See the article
     
  • An article in NPR highlights an interview with NGG faculty member, Frances Jensen, MD where she discusses her research on the teenage brain.- "Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone And Should Protect Their Brains" - See the article
     
  • NGG Faculty member, Caryn Lerman, Ph.D was featured in Penn News Today - "Patch or Pills? How Quickly Smokers Metabolize Nicotine May Point to Most Effective Way to Quit, Penn Study Finds"-See the article

Close

  • Bart De Jonghe explains that the metabolic disturbance of obesity can increase both the risk of cancer onset and the rate of tumor growth. Read the full article
     
  • In recognition of her outstanding work and teaching on molecular motors, Erika Holzbaur received the American Neurological Association’s 2015 Bennett Award. Read the full article
     
  • Frances Jensen elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
     
  • A team led by Tracy Bale has shown at the molecular level how stress experienced by a male mouse can influence his offspring’s brain development. Read the full article
     
  • In an illustrated profile in Nautilus, Danielle Bassett explains how changes in the way regions of the brain talk to one another impacts the learning process. Read the full article
     
  • Using lasers to manipulate brain activity; Maria Geffen and Ryan Natan learn the mechanics of auditory understanding: Read the full article
     
  • Spotlight on NGG's Tracy Bale: Research suggesting mothers' stress alters babies' gut and brain. Read the full article
     
  • Sensitivity to odors depends on the length of the sensory cilia and their location in the nasal cavity, according to research by Med’s Rosemary Lewis and Minghong Ma. Read the full article
     
  • In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Caryn Lerman of the Perelman School of Medicine is featured for developing a transcranial direct current brain stimulation test to help smokers quit. Read the full article

  • How are people able to so accurately estimate how fast an object is moving? Johannes Burge helped build a model that shows the brain’s method is nearly ideal. Read the full article
     
  • Danielle Bassett and colleagues from Germany have new insights into how neural connections rearrange themselves when people switch between different tasks. Read the full article
     
  • Bart De Jonghe explains that blocking certain neurotransmitter receptors in the brain alleviates the side effects of chemotherapy, like nausea. Read the full article
     
  • John Trojanowski earns the AANP Award for Meritorious Contributions to Neuropathology for his pioneering neurogenerative disease research. Read the full article
     
  • Understanding the link between sleep loss and aggression; Amita Sehgal and Matthew Kayser examine the behavior of sleep-deprived fruit flies. Read the full article
     
  • Jean Bennett shows success with Vision-Restoring Gene Therapy. Read the full article
     
  • Dr. David Raizen teams with colleagues from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) to study upstream swimming behavior in C. elegansRead the full article
     
  • Martha Farah's research shows the link between childhood socioeconomic status and its relationship to mental health, cognitive ability and academic achievement. Read the full article
     
  • ADHD medications assist menopausal women with executive functions. Study lead by C. Neill Epperson. Read the full article
     
  • Penn names a new Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) professor, Michael Platt. Platt will hold joint appointments in Neuroscience, Psychology and Marketing. Platt is the 16th PIK professor. Read the full article
     
  • The journal Endocrinology publishes paper by Dr. Tracy Bale about the effects of maternal stress on the microbiome. Read the full article
     
  • NGG members Russell Epstein and Isabel Muzzio publish their findings that the mental "Map," and "Compass," that help mice orient themselves are two separate systems. Read the full article
     
  • NGG Faculty Dr. Alice Chen-Plotkin with first-author Christine Swanson, PhD is first scientist to use plasma samples from the Michael J. Fox Foundation's biomarker program to confirm a biomarker for Parkinson's Disease. Read the full article
     
  • Profs. Anjan Chatterjee and Martha Farah contribute to a New York Times discussion about the use of Adderall or similar stimulants in the workplace. Read the full article
     
  • The Penn Current highlights work by Dr. Jorge Alvarez about the protein netrin-1 and its role in the blood-brain barrier. Read the full article  
     
  • Penn News article mentioned NGG Faculty member, Danielle Bassett, PhD and her research on the learning process and its connection with neural activity - "Penn, Johns Hopkins and UCSB Research: Differences in Neural Activity Change Learning Rate"- See article
     

  • Philly.com featured an article by NGG Faculty member, Frances Jensen, MD, about the harmful effects of drugs such as Molly or MDMA on the brains of adolescents and young adults.- "Young minds and ecstasy a harmful mix"- See article here
     
  • NGG students, Kait Folweiler, Patti Murphy, Hannah Shoenhard, Carolyn Keating, and Trish Parthasarathi, were recognized in a Penn Medicine New Blog article for their participation in an outreach program for elementary school students at Independence Charter School.- "Beginner Brain Science" - See article 
     
  • NGG faculty member, David Brainard, PhD was mentioned in an SASFrontiers article which higlights his research on illumination and color vision.- "RRL Professor of Psychology David Brainard examines the intricacies of color vision."- See the article
     
  • Penn News highlights the work of NGG faculty member, James Eberwine, PhD in the PENN Program in Single Cell Biology, which focuses on understanding the biology of single cells.- "New Penn Program Studies the Body’s Cells, One By One" - See the article
     
  • NGG Faculty member Michael Granato's research was mentioned in a Penn Medicine News & Publications article.- "Genomewide Screen of Learning in Zebrafish Identifies Enzyme Important in Neural Circuit"- See the article
     
  • An article in Penn Medicine News & Publications mentions NGG faculty member Corey McMillan, PhD and his recent research. "Penn Medicine Researchers Pinpoint Potential New Drug Target for Protection against Certain Neurodegenerative Diseases"- See the article
     
  • An article in PennNews focuses on the work of NGG faculty member Charles Vite, DVM, Ph.D.- " Penn Vet Researchers Identify Effective Treatment for Niemann Pick Type C"- See the article
     
  • Amita Sehgal, Ph.D, NGG faculty member, was mentioned in a Penn Medicine News & Publications article which highlighted her study on sleep debt and its effects.- "Common Biomarkers of Sleep Debt Found in Humans, Rats, Penn Study Finds"- See the article
     
  • NGG Faculty member James Shorter, Ph.D was mentioned in Penn Medicine News & Publications for his work a yeast protein called Hsp104. -"Penn Study Uncovers Secrets of a Clump-Dissolving Protein"- See the article
     
  • An article in NPR highlights an interview with NGG faculty member, Frances Jensen, MD where she discusses her research on the teenage brain.- "Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone And Should Protect Their Brains" - See the article
     
  • NGG Faculty member, Caryn Lerman, Ph.D was featured in Penn News Today - "Patch or Pills? How Quickly Smokers Metabolize Nicotine May Point to Most Effective Way to Quit, Penn Study Finds"-See the article

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  • NGG faculty member, Maria Geffen, Ph.D was interviewed for an article in WHYY's The Pulse- " Studying how the brain gets meaning from sound"- See the article

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A message from the Neuroscience Graduate Group: Response to Recent Events (June 2020)