Mark T. Harnett, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
As we transition from young adulthood to middle-age, and ultimately into the later stages of life, our brains undergo a range of poorly understood changes. A decreased capacity for learning and memory is one of the most traumatic and prevalent changes that occurs later in life in many individuals...
Preeya Khanna, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
To move successfully, we must be able to feel our bodies and our environment through our sense of body position and touch. A great example of this is when people try to do something very skilled with their hands, like lighting a match. This task requires you to strike the match just hard enough a...
Aaron T. Kuan, Ph.D., Yale School of Medicine
The connectivity between neurons is a “wiring diagram” of the brain. Obtaining such a wiring diagram would help understand how the brain works, as well as what can go wrong in psychiatric diseases. Because wires in the brain are so small, brain mapping can currently only be achieved w...
Heidi C. Meyer, Ph.D., Boston University
Our proposal is motivated by an urgent need to understand aspects of brain development that determine whether an individual will be susceptible to developing a psychiatric disease such as anxiety. Anxiety disorders are very common during adolescence, with diagnoses surging around 13 years of age....
Robert R. Parrish, Ph.D., Brigham Young University
Seizures can significantly impact the lives of those who suffer from them, causing considerable stress, feelings of hopelessness, and depression in patients. Even in their mildest form, seizures can alter someone’s ability to drive and perform other daily tasks we take for granted. In the m...
Yi-Rong Peng, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
The nervous system’s complex structure is created by precise connections among many types of cells. Neurodegenerative diseases disrupt these connections, leading to permanent neuron loss and the formation of abnormal connections among surviving neurons. This impairs the function of the rema...
Jon Resch, Ph.D., University of Iowa
Our bodies need water to survive. Thus, knowing when to drink water, and when not to, is important. This is why some neurons in the brain are devoted to keeping track of hydration. When there is too much salt and/or too little fluid volume, they respond by causing thirst, the feeling of wanting t...
Rebecca M. Voorhees, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
The function of the brain relies on an intricate network of connections that mediate the transfer of information throughout the central nervous system. At the molecular level, communication relies on proteins that are embedded into the thin waxy envelope that encapsulates and protects individual ...
Steffen B.E. Wolff, Ph.D., University of Maryland, Baltimore
Our ability to learn is remarkable: not only can we learn everything from facts over directions to motor skills, but we also continuously form new memories without forgetting what we learned before. However, we know from experience that memories are not independent – learning related langua...
Takeshi Yoshimatsu, Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis
Attention is an essential ability for carrying out daily life. This enables us to focus on tasks while suppressing distractions from surrounding stimuli. Attentional disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are highly heritable conditi...
