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 … Continued

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 … Continued

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 … Continued

The UNC School of Medicine lab of Ben Philpot, PhD, will build upon research previously funded by the Pitt-Hopkins Research Foundation to develop a therapy to treat children with this neurodevelopmental disorder. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has funded the lab of Ben Philpot, PhD, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology … Continued

The National Institutes of Health announced 93 awards to fund highly innovative, high-impact biomedical research as part of its High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program. Wesley Legant, PhD, assistant professor in the departments of pharmacology and biomedical engineering, and Hyejung Won, PhD, assistant professor of genetics, were selected as NIH Director’s New Innovator Award recipients this week. … Continued

UNC School of Medicine researchers led by Ben Philpot, PhD, and Bin Gu, PhD, found that cannabidiol had anti-seizure effects and behavior benefits in animal models of Angelman syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder. A marijuana plant extract, also known as cannabidiol (CBD), is being commonly used to improve anxiety, sleep problems, pain, and many other neurological … Continued

The National Institutes of Health have awarded two separate grants totaling $6.1 million to Mark Zylka, PhD, director of the UNC Neuroscience Center. One of the grants was co-awarded to Ben Philpot, PhD, associate director of the center at the UNC School of Medicine. One of these projects will test a CRISPR/Cas9-based gene therapy for … Continued

Hiroyuki Kato, PhD, has been awarded a Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Award in Neuroscience, which provides funding to highly promising early career investigators in neuroscience. The Kato Lab will use this award to study how recurrent circuits in the mammalian cerebral cortex shape the sensory information processing in the brain. Findings in the simple mouse cortex should … Continued

Led by Eva Anton, PhD, scientists have uncovered details of a key cellular mechanism crucial for brain development. This process of brain development is spawned by a gene that, when mutated, had previously been linked to the development of autism. See the full story in the UNC SOM Newsroom here.

This eight-year project will focus on the interactions between genetics and environmental exposures that may contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and attention deficit disorder. Although scientists have made significant progress identifying gene mutations linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, they have not investigated to the same extent the … Continued