NeURoscience Perspectives

How are injury and illness monitored in the brain? Once thought of as the glue of the brain, glia cells have been proven to play a key role in brain health with astrocytes acting as important messengers. These star-like cells are at the center of the research of Nathan A. Smith, PhD, associate dean for Equity & Inclusion for Research and Research Education and associate professor of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center and School of Medicine, who joins John Foxe, PhD, director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, on NeURoscience Perspectives. They explore Smith’s journey into science that started with the gift of a microscope from his mother, how research experience shaped his academic career, and why he is steadfast on wearing two hats to transform the future of the field.

What changes happen at the cellular level in the cerebral cortex between concentration and daydreaming? Jessica Cardin, PhD, associate professor and vice chair of the Neuroscience Department at Yale School of Medicine, joins John Foxe, PhD, director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, on NeURoscience Perspectives. They explore her interest in understanding how we learn, specifically, the flexibility of our brain, and her creative approaches in the lab that aim to improve our understanding of the cellular mechanisms behind neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism or schizophrenia. Dr. Cardin also shares how conducting experiments during childhood helped shape her curiosity.

How does the brain perceive touch? How does it process pain? Could what we know about pain better inform treatments for addiction? Fan Wang, PhD, professor in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences department at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, joins John Foxe, PhD, director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester for this engaging discussion in NeURoscience Perspectives. Hear her journey to research, how the focus of her lab has transformed over time, and how she is using role as a researcher to better the lives of others.

Lucina Uddin, PhD, professor-in-residence of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at University of California, Los Angeles, joins John Foxe, PhD, director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester for this engaging discussion in NeURoscience Perspectives. Hear her journey to research, how she’s taking on diversity and inclusion in the NIH funded largest long-term study of adolescent brain development (the ABCD Study), and her best advice for aspiring scientists.

How a paragraph in a textbook and a summer camp were pivotal to the career of Brian Boyd, PhD, William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education Interim Director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina (UNC). Boyd has dedicated his career to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He trained in special education, and much of his research has involved developing and evaluating evidence-based practices for children with ASD in schools and at home. His recent work focuses on how implicit bias and race affect the outcomes of children with and without disabilities. He sat down with John J. Foxe, PhD, director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, on a visit to the Medical Center as one of the keynote speakers of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience and UR-IDDRC annual symposium.

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives, John J. Foxe, PhD, the director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, is joined by Yoland Smith, PhD, Division Chief, Neuropharmacology and Neurologic Diseases, Emory National Primate Research Center. Dr. Smith [https://bit.ly/43TGPwG] seeks to understand the pathophysiology of Parkinson's Disease and characterize changes in the synaptic plasticity of the basal ganglia in normal and pathological conditions. He shares one of the biggest challenges in Parkinson's research. Dr. Smith is a prolific publisher with more than 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts on the pathophysiology of brain networks in Parkinson’s disease and related movement disorders. He is also a senior editor at the European Journal of Neuroscience and discusses why it is a position he has become passionate about. He also discuss the importance of mentorship throughout ones career and why a job in academia research is the best job to have. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mLVSTiOgOM4

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives, John J. Foxe, PhD, the director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, is joined by Dean Salisbury, PhD, a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Salisbury [https://www.cnrl.pitt.edu/] helped to change the conceptualization of schizophrenia as a static, perinatal encephalopathy by pioneering the combined use of structural brain imaging and electroencephalographic (EEG) measurement of auditory cortex responses to demonstrate that progressive gray matter loss during the early disease course of schizophrenia is linked to progressive auditory impairment. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hP8m1csJgPE

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives, John J. Foxe, PhD, the Director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, is joined by Katalin Gothard, MD, PhD, a professor of Physiology and Neuroscience at the University of Arizona. Dr. Gothard's lab [https://gothardlab.org/] studies the neural basis of emotion and social behavior. Originally, from Romania Dr. Gothard worked in the orphanages while she trained to be a physician. Today, her research mostly focuses on touch, and what she experienced with those children early in her career is never far from her mind. Don't miss her incredible story. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JOlDtM7J0es

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives with John Foxe, PhD, the Director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, he is joined by Qiang Chang, PhD, a professor of Medical Genetics & Neurology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Chang's lab studies Rett syndrome, a developmental disorder caused by mutations that deform an essential protein called MeCP2. [https://www.waisman.wisc.edu/stem-cel...]. He is the director of the Waisman Center at and leads the Intellectual and Developmental Research Center at UW-Madison. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PJocpQy-mzA

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives with John Foxe, PhD, the Director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, he sits down with Helen Barbas, PhD, a professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Barbas started her lab, Neural Systems Laboratory [https://www.bu.edu/neural/], at BU in the 1980s and has made numerous contributions to our understanding of circuits in the prefrontal cortex in primates. Deemed a pioneer in neuroanatomy of the primate brain, she pursued work in the prefrontal cortex that others though was “too complex to study”. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mxcU4NhbdvU

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives with John J. Foxe, PhD, the Director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, he sits down with Bea Luna, PhD, a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Luna is a developmental neuroscientist known for conducting neuroimaging research on the development of cognitive control, reward, and reinforcement learning from early childhood to adolescence. She shares her journey from Chile to the U.S. as a teen, why she has spent her career dedicated to understanding adolescence brain development, her time working in the White House, and reflects on being a woman and mother in science. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/b4-8FQq9za0

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives, John Foxe, PhD, the Director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester sits down with Tatiana Pasternak, PhD, a Scientific Review Officer at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Pasternak spent more than 40-years as a Professor of Neuroscience and researcher at the University of Rochester. Watch to learn about her research and her personal journey from Lativa to the United States, and how she continued her neuroscience education along the way. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/W-QkpfL_4pM

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives, John J. Foxe, PhD, the Director of the Del Monte Institute at the University of Rochester, sits down with Ed Callaway, PhD, professor and Audrey Geisel chair in the systems neurobiology laboratories at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/om3zkpm0AEE

In NeURoscience Perspectives, John Foxe, PhD, the Director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, picks the brains of world-renowned neuroscientists. In this episode, Foxe sits down with Jeffrey Macklis, MD, is the Max and Anne Wien Professor of Life Sciences in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, and Center for Brain Science at Harvard University, and Professor of Neurology and of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eBTAVieLPtM

In NeURoscience Perspectives with John Foxe, PhD, the director of the Del Monte Institute at the University of Rochester, picks the brains of world-renowned neuroscientists. In this episode, Dr. Foxe sits down with David Amaral, PhD, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at University of California, Davis. He is also the Beneto Foundation Chair and Research Director of the MIND Institute which is dedicated to studying autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Amaral explains to Dr. Foxe what lead him to study autism, why most of his work focuses on the disorder, and how he is working to understand it on a cellular level. He also shares the statement he no longer uses in papers about autism and the role it plays in early intervention. As Research Director, he coordinates a multidisciplinary analysis of children with autism called the Autism Phenome Project to define clinically significant sub-types of autism. More recently, Dr. Amaral has become Director of Autism BrainNet, a collaborative effort to solicit postmortem brain tissue to facilitate autism research. In April of 2015, Amaral became Editor-in-Chief of Autism Research, the journal of the International Society for Autism Research. In 2016, he was appointed to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HOA1NincHtI

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives John J. Foxe, PhD, the Director of the Del Monte Institute at the University of Rochester, sits down with Helen Tager-Flusberg, PhD. Dr. Tager-Flusberg is the director and principal investigator at the Center for Autism Research Excellence - CARE at Boston University. She is also a professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at the university and a professor in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. In this interview, she shares her years of researching language, communication, and associated social-cognitive deficits in Autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. She also gives advice to young women pursuing their PhD in science. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UVIF-eaL764

In this episode of NeURoscience Perspectives with John Foxe, PhD, director of the Del Monte Institute at the University of Rochester, he is joined by Steven Petersen, PhD, Professor of Radiology, Psychological & Brain Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, and Neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis Professor Petersen’s lab uses behavioral, functional neuroimaging (fMRI) and functional connectivity (fcMRI) to study the neural mechanisms underlying attention, language, learning and memory. One area of particular research focus is the development of neural mechanisms underlying reading from ages seven to adulthood with an emphasis on how visual regions in the brain change as people become fluent readers. Another major focus is on identifying and characterizing fMRI and fcMRI signals related to task organization and executive control. A transcript version is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XGNLgICQ1vk