News
Dr. Michael Drew receives NIH BRAIN Initiative R03 Award
Dr. Michael Drew received a R03 award through the NIH BRIAN Initiative for his research project entitled “Imaging adult-born neurons in action using head-mounted minimicroscopes”. There is a vast amount of correlational and experimental data identifying adult neurogenesis—the generation of nerve cells in the adult hippocampus— as a clinically important form...Drs. Seidemann and Zemelman publish in eLife and featured on Human Frontiers website
Dr. Eyal Seidemann and Dr. Boris Zemelman recently published a paper in eLife entitled “Calcium imaging with genetically encoded indicators in behaving primates.” This project describes a new technique for long-term (over a period of months) imaging of neural activity in the visual cortex of the behaving primate by measuring activity-dependent...Dr. Nigel Atkinson receives NIH grant to investigate genes involved in alcoholism
Dr. Nigel Atkinson receives NIH grant for his research project entitled “Epigenetic dissection of functional ethanol tolerance and dependence”. This project seeks to identify a simple and effective way to pan for genomic changes that occur in the alcoholism phenotype. This will be accomplished by investigating genes that show common changes...Drs. Adron Harris and Dayne Mayfield renew NIAAA grant
Drs. Adron Harris and Dayne Mayfield received a competitive renewal from NIAAA for their long-standing project (since 1999) titled "Gene Expression in the human alcoholic brain." This research project investigates the theory that alcohol-induced changes in brain function are due to alterations in gene expression. Alcohol-induced changes in gene expression will be...Dr. Alex Huk publishes in Nature
The Huk lab published an article in Nature entitled “Dissociated functional significance of decision-related activity in the primate dorsal stream”. During decision making, neurons in multiple brain regions exhibit responses that are correlated with decisions, However, it remains uncertain whether or not various forms of decision-related activity are causally related to...Dr. Nace Golding publishes in Nature Neuroscience
Dr. Nace Golding published an article in Nature Neuroscience entitled "Serotonin modulates spike probability in the axon initial segment through HCN". In most neurons the Axon Initial Segment (AIS) represents the final stage of synaptic integration, where the complex interplay between excitatory and inhibitory synaptic signals and voltage-gated ion channels...Dr. Max Snodderly publishes in Vision Research
Dr. Max Snodderly and colleagues recently published an article in Vision Research entitled 'Eye movements between saccades: Measuring ocular drift and tremor". The paper describes guidelines to assess the precision and resolution of eyetracking systems and analyses and compares the intersaccadic eye movements of humans to those of a non-human primate. Ko...Laura Ferguson receives NRSA
Laura Ferguson, a graduate student in Dr. Adron Harris’s lab, received a NRSA award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for her graduate project entitled “Molecular mechanisms underlying reduction of alcohol consumption by PPAR agonists”. This project investigates the mechanism of action of Peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs),...Dr. Alex Huk publishes in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The Huk lab recently published a research article in PNAS entitled 'Decision-related perturbations of decision-irrelevant eye movements". This research investigated the correlation of neural activity in oculomotor brain circuits with the formation of decisions about where to move the eyes, specifically asking if decision-related activity in oculomotor circuits interacts with eye movements...Dr. Adron Harris elected Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Dr. Adron Harris was elected Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). The misson of the ACNP is to further research and education in neuropsychopharmacology and related fields, and to advance scientific understanding of and to facilitate communication about disorders of the brain and behavior in order to advance their...Dr. Michael Mauk named Chair of Neuroscience Department
Dr. Michael Mauk has been named Chairman of the Department of Neuroscience. The staff and faculty welcome him and look forward to his direction and leadership of the department.Dr. Rick Aldrich and Dr. Alex Huk featured on Brain Matters podcast episodes
Brain Matters, the Podcast, is entirely conceived and executed by a dedicated group of UT Neuroscience graduate students with a mission to make neuroscience accessible, relatable, and intriguing while still respecting the integrity of the science they love. During the show they discuss research that is being done today and reveal...Dr. Kristen Harris publishes in Nature Scientific Data
The Harris lab recently published an article in Nature Scientific Data entitled “A resource from 3D electron microscopy of hippocampal neuropil for user training and tool development”. The work reveals 3D reconstruction from serial section electron microscopy from volumes of CA1 of the rat hippocampus. These data set guidelines for...Pierce-Shimomura and Raab-Graham receive 2015 College of Natural Sciences Excellence Awards
Drs. Jon Pierce-Shimonura and Kimberly Raab-Graham each received a 2015 College of Natural Sciences Excellence Award. Dr. Pierce-Shimomura received an Outreach Excellence award for his work offering post-secondary education through UT Informal classes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Dr. Raab-Graham received a Teaching Excellence award that recognizes her...Dr. Harold Zakon received the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Research Award
Dr. Harold Zakon was awarded the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The mission of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is to promote academic cooperation between excellent scientists and scholars from abroad and from Germany. The award is granted in recognition of a scientist whose...Drs. Lewis-Peacock, Nauhaus and Zemelman receive UT BRAIN seed grants
Dr. Jarrod Lewis Peacock, Dr. Ian Nauhaus and Dr. Boris Zemelman are among the forty-five new research teams from across the University of Texas System that have been awarded $100,000 seed grants each as part of a UT System initiative to jump-start multi-disciplinary and innovative research on the human brain. The...Dr. Laura Colgin receives NSF CAREER award
Dr. Laura Colgin received a National Science Foundation CAREER award for her project entitled “Role of slow and fast gamma rhythms during sleep”. CAREER awards are one of the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards given in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent...Drs. Priebe and Zemelman publish in Neuron- highlighted with video abstract
Drs. Nicholas Priebe and Boris Zemelman published and article in Neuron entitled "Local Integration Accounts for Weak Selectivity of Mouse Neocortical Parvalbumin Interneurons" that was selected to be featured on the Neuron website with a video abstract. The research investigates the role that input from excitatory and inhibitory neurons play in computations...Dan Johnston is visiting lecturer for CAMP course in Bangalore, India
Dr. Dan Johston was a visiting lecturer for the Computational Approaches to Memory and Plasticity and Memory (CAMP) courseMemory (CAMP) course, hosted by the National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore India. CAMP is an intensive, 15 day course, during which graduate students and postdocs from around the world are trained in theoretical and...
