David Anderson - California Institute of Technology

David Anderson's lab has pioneered research of stem cells in peripheral and central nervous systems. They isolated and characterized stem-like progenitor cells exhibiting multi-potency and self-renewal capacity, and made tremendous contributions in discovering molecular mechanisms that control of the fate of these cells. More recently, his lab has also been developing and applying novel molecular biological tools to map and manipulate the neural circuits involved in innate behaviors such as fear, using both mice and fruit flies.

Karen Hsiao Ashe - University of Minnesota

Combining detailed biochemistry with behavioral analyses, Karen Hsiao Ashe has illuminated the molecular bases of memory loss and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease.  She discovered a novel form of the amyloid-beta protein that impairs cognitive function in rodents, and now continues to unravel the complex fabric of cognition and disease.

Apostolos Georgopoulos - University of Minnesota

Dr. Georgopoulos discovered the directional tuning of individual cells in the motor cortex and was a pioneer in decoding the activity of motor cortical populations specifying the direction of movement in space.  This provided both fundamental insights into how groups of cells represent information collectively, as well as the intellectual foundation for recent advances in neuroprosthetics.  He has extended his analysis of neuronal population coding to discover how neural dynamics in cortical systems relate to the unfolding of cognitive operations in time – an approach that has recently allowed him to make fundamental discoveries in the neural basis of higher cognitive function in humans.

Jim Hudspeth - Rockefeller University

Jim Hudspeth employs a large of array of techniques, including biophysics, electrophysiology, and molecular biology, to study the mechano-electrical transduction responsible for hearing and equilibrium. He has done pioneering work on the calcium and potassium channels that underlie hair cell’s frequency tuning and on the molecular basis of adaptation and amplification in hair cells.

Some of his recent research includes the identification of molecular markers for inner-ear cells and candidate genes for hearing disorders, and genetic and developmental analyses of the zebrafish lateral line sensory system.

Masakazu Konishi - California Institute of Technology

Masakazu ('Mark') Konishi has made multiple major contributions to our understanding of the neural mechanisms of behavior.  Taking sensory coding from the neuron to behavior and back again, Konishi discovered the role of auditory feedback in song learning and an auditory map of space in the owl midbrain.

Paul Letourneau - University of Minnesota

Paul Letourneau is a pioneer in the field of growth cone motility. Using elegant microscopy methods, his research investigates how neurons regulate their actin and microtubule cytoskeletons in response to environmental cues, questions that are the heart of our understanding of how neurons acquire their exquisitely complex and specialized morphologies.

Robert Malenka - Stanford University

Rob Malenka is making fundamental contributions to our understanding of the detailed mechanisms by which the brain stores information. Using a combination of molecular genetics, cell biological and electrophysiological techniques, Dr. Malenka’s lab has identified and characterized a variety of forms of synaptic plasticity in the mammalian brain. These functional changes in brain circuitry are thought to be the building blocks for the tuning of neural circuits during development as well as for learning and memory in adults.

Eve Marder - Brandeis University

Eve Marder has effectively used the "simple systems" of invertebrates to reveal fundamental properties of circuits and the critical role of neuromodulators.  Her pioneering work has revealed that neuronal excitability is modulated by ongoing activity and that single neurons are differentially recruited to multiple circuits based on the dynamic modulatory state of the neural system.

Eric Nestler - University of Texas, Southwestern

Eric Nestler is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of the neural basis of drug addiction. His lab has conducted pioneering studies in the molecular and biochemical changes in the brain induced by drugs of abuse and how those changes are manifested in behavior. His work has implications not only for drug addiction, but for other debilitating neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.

William Newsome - Stanford University

Dr. Newsome has produced some of clearest data that neural activity in the cerebral cortex can be equated to visual perception. Working in visual area MT, he demonstrated that the physiological properties of MT neurons could explain psychophysical performance in visual motion detection tasks, and further, that manipulating neural activity in MT could bias a perceptual judgment of visual motion. This work set a new standard for relating the neurophysiology of cortical neurons to behavior. Recently, he has used this foundation to extend his research into the neural mechanisms of decision processing, playing a pioneering role in establishing the new field of neuroeconomics.

Wolfram Schultz - Cambridge University

Wolfram Schultz brings together neurophysiology, imaging, and behavioral techniques to investigate motivational and cognitive mechanisms underlying goal-directed behavior at the level of single neurons. His group discovered that the firing patterns of dopamine neurons encode information about reward that is compatible with a concept of a prediction error signal. These signals could be used by the brain to form a teaching signal from which one can learn to select appropriate responses to stimuli. These have implications for animal learning theory, game theory, behavioral ecology and microeconomics.

Li-Huei Tsai - Harvard University

Li-Huei Tsai has investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying neurogenesis, neuronal migration and neurodegeneration.  Literally studying the fate of neurons from birth to death, her research has fundamentally advanced our understanding of how key molecules such as cdk5 kinase can regulate myriad aspects of neuronal function.