Category: News

The 16th Annual UNC Neuroscience Symposium was held on October 8th at the Carolina Club. Attendees from the UNC Neuroscience community enjoyed a breakfast reception with the speakers, Joseph G. Gleeson, Yang Dan and Alcino Silva, three riveting talks followed by question-and-answer sessions, and a buffet luncheon at the conclusion.

Garret Stuber, PhD, was awarded the 2015 Gill Transformative Investigator Award from Indiana University for his contributions to cellular and molecular neuroscience. He was presented the award and prize at the annual Gill Symposium at the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science.

In an article published in the journal Cell, Zylka lab shows how a genetic mutation disables a regulatory molecular switch, creating an enzyme that cannot be turned off and leading to abnormal brain development and autism.

Spencer Smith, PhD, has been awarded the 2015 McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award. He will receive $200,000 over two years to expand the range of technologies for studying the brain and its diseases and to make new technologies available to the field of neuroscience.

Rett Syndrome Research Trust has awarded Mark Zylka $400,000 to screen for other compounds of topoisomerase inhibitors that can rebalance expression of long genes safely.

Spencer Smith discussed how new technologies and multidisciplinary research are advancing our understanding of the brain at a congressional briefing organized by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science and National Science Foundation on Thursday, July 9th.

Dr. Jason Stein from UCLA will join the faculty of the Neuroscience Center and the Department of Genetics in January 2016.

Jeffrey Stirman, Ph.D., was just awarded a grant of $500,000 as part of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Career Awards at the Scientific Interface (CASI) program.

Lei Xing of received a two-year Young Investigator Award from Children’s Tumor Foundation. Lei Xing is a Research Scientist in Dr. William Snider’s lab. He proposes to investigate the effect of ERK/MAPK hyperactivation on neural circuit development.

Using a weak electric current to alter a specific brain activity pattern, Frohlich lab increased creativity in healthy adults. Now they’re testing the same experimental protocol to alleviate symptoms in people with depression.