The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation announced the selection of its 2020 class of Beckman Young Investigator Awardees from U.S. colleges and universities. Our very own Dr. Andrea Giovannucci, PhD was one of the recipients of this year’s award offering $600,000 in funding over four years. Congratulations! For more information, please see the Beckman Foundation … Read more

The UNC School of Medicine has awarded the 20th Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize to Lily Jan, PhD, and Yuh-Nung Jan, PhD, both at UC San Francisco, for the “discovery and functional characterization of potassium channels.” In adherence to guidelines for reducing the spread of COVID-19, the husband-and-wife team will give their lecture virtually via Zoom Conference … Read more

Led by UNC School of Medicine neuroscientist Hyejung Won, PhD, researchers created H-MAGMA, a computational tool that improves current technology used to link non-coding genetic variants to the genes associated with diseases through genome-wide association studies. For the full UNC Health/UNC School of Medicine Newsroom article, please click here.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say they can detect autism spectrum disorder before it manifests in some young children, and they’re even developing treatments for some of the conditions that go hand-in-hand with autism. Professors Mark Zylka and Joe Piven work among more than two dozen scientists at UNC focused … Read more

Four research teams at the UNC School of Medicine won $25,000 pilot grants with the goal of increasing collaborations throughout the neurosciences, as part of a UNC NeuroSpark event. For the full article in UNC Vital Signs, please click here. 

UNC School of Medicine scientists led by Eva Anton, PhD, found that defective primary cilia can modulate connectivity between neurons during brain development and cause rare neurodevelopmental conditions called Joubert-syndrome related disorders. See the full story in the UNC SOM Newsroom here.

UNC School of Medicine Celebrates 2019-20 Yang Family Biomedical Scholars The award, which recognizes the research achievements of young tenured faculty, is made possible through a generous donation from Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang with additional financial support from Mr. To Hing Wu. This is the fourth annual class of Yang Family Biomedical Scholars, … Read more

Thomas Kash, PhD, was recognized by the Society for Neuroscience for his “creative research on the neural basis of addiction-related behaviors and its illumination of potential paths forward for understanding and treating the pathological behaviors associated with addiction.” The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) presented the Jacob P. Waletzky Award to Thomas Kash, PhD, at Neuroscience … Read more

The Researcher Signature Series features researchers across the School of Medicine. Read about Stephanie Gupton, PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, in our second issue. Growing up in a rural town in North Carolina, Dr. Stephanie Gupton was captivated by the natural world, which has been the motivation and foundation … Read more

UNC Lineberger’s Timothy Gerson, MD, PhD and colleagues reported in the journal Development that by blocking a signal called GSK-3, they could control tumor growth in a subtype of medulloblastoma. Their preclinical findings may provide clues to a possible new targeted treatment strategy. “This work could lead to new insights into developmental brain malformations and also to new treatments … Read more