Dr. Larysa Pevny will serve as a permanent member on the NIH Neurogenesis and Cell Fate Study Section. This study section reviews applications concerned with the initial formation of cells in the developing nervous system, as well as cell specification, determination, and differentiation. Areas to be included are: regulation of the cell cycle; induction of … Read more

Dr. Franck Polleux was elected co-chair of the next Neural Development Gordon Conference. This is one of the most popular scientific conferences in the field of Developmental Neurobiology. It usually takes place at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island and is held every other year (next one in 2010). The conference is an interactive … Read more

The students of the Neurobiology Curriculum would like to invite everyone to the 2008 Pierre Morell Research Day on Friday, August 29th. There will be a seminar at 12pm from by Dr. Rachel Wong in G202 MBRB, followed by a catered lunch held on the 2nd floor of MBRB. The student poster presentations will take … Read more

The UNC Neuroscience Center has been awarded a five-year, $3,650,000 Center Grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The Center Grant supports neuroscience research infrastructure by funding cutting edge core facilities. The six core areas that will be supported by this award are genomics and bioinformatics, gene expression localization, BAC (Bacterial … Read more

Congratulations to Mohanish Deshmukh who recently accepted an invitation to serve as a member of the International and Cooperative Projects 1 Study Section, Center for Scientific Review. His term will last from July 1, 2008 until June 30, 2012. This selection was based on Dr. Deshmukh’s achievements in his scientific discipline, and recognizes his successful … Read more

Dr Polleux’s group in the Neuroscience Center has recently published an article in the Public Access journal PLoS Biology (june 2008 issue) reporting the critical role of Netrin-1 signaling in the establishment of the topography of thalamocortical projections. The first author on this study is Ashton Powell (left), a student from the UNC Neurobiology Curriculum … Read more

The Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize was presented to Huda Y. Zoghbi, MD from Baylor College of Medicine. Dean Bill Roper presented Dr. Zoghbi with a plaque and a cash prize of $10,000. Dr. Zoghbi gave a lecture entitled “Rett Syndrome: from genomes to epigenomes and neuropsychiatric conditions” to a crowd of 200 or more yesterday in … Read more

Ideally, our immune system functions to protect us from dangerous substances. In MS, however, the immune mistakenly targets the brain and spinal cord, damaging the myelin insulation of nerve fibers. Nerve fibers are damaged as well. “T cells” are a major player in the immune response, so therapeutic strategies that could prevent activation of T … Read more

We are delighted to announce the Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize Award presentation and lecture will be held on Tuesday, May 27th at 3pm. The event will take place on the ground floor of MBRB in room 202. This years’ prize will be awarded to Huda Y. Zoghbi, MD from Baylor College of Medicine for her “Discovery … Read more

Mohanish Deshmukh’s laboratory published an article in the Proceedings of National Academy of Science in which they describe a mechanism by which cell death could be selectively induced in brain tumor cells but not neurons. They show that direct activation of the apoptotic pathway with cytochrome c has the ability to induce death in astrocytomas … Read more