News: Departmental Retreat Registration Now Open
Thursday, April 25, 2019
The 2019 Neuroscience Departmental Retreat will be held on June 17th-18th, 2019 at the Edith Macy Conference Center. Register to attend and submit an abstract now at https://www.einsteinmedneuroscience.org/retreat/
Grant Award: Dr. Kamran Khodakhah
Friday, July 27, 2018
Kamran Khodakhah, Ph.D. has been awarded a five-year, $2.8 million grant to investigate the relationship between the cerebellum and mental health disorders. Dr. Khodakhah has identified two specific pathways by which the cerebellum comes in contact with other parts of the brain to influence social behavior. He and his team will look for defects in those pathways that could reveal how the cerebellum contributes to mental health disorders. Dr. Khodakhah is professor and chair of the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience and the Florence and Irving Rubinstein Chair in Neuroscience. (1R01MH115604-01A1)
Grant Award: Dr. Kamran Khodakhah
Friday, February 02, 2018
Kamran Khodakhah, Ph.D. has been awarded a five-year, $2.3 million grant to use his mouse model to determine at the cellular and molecular level how mutations associated with DYT1 cause dystonia, a neurological disorder that causes muscles to contract involuntarily. Dr. Khodakhah is professor and chair of the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience and the Florence and Irving Rubinstein Chair in Neuroscience. (1R01NS105470-01)
Grant Award: Dr. Kamran Khodakhah
Friday, November 17, 2017
Kamran Khodakhah, Ph.D., has received a five-year, $3.6 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to expand on his earlier research linking the cerebellum to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a brain region involved in addiction and other reward-seeking behaviors. He and his colleagues will use anatomical and physiological approaches to find the neural pathways by which the cerebellum can affect the VTA as well as two other regions associated with addiction: the prefrontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens. Dr. Khodakhah is professor and chair of the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience and the Florence and Irving Rubinstein Chair in Neuroscience. (1R01DA044761-01A1)
Grant Award: Dr. Julie Secombe
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
The National Institute on Aging has awarded Julie Secombe, Ph.D., a five-year, $1.69 million grant to study whether transposons influence aging. So far, research on transposons and aging has been limited by available techniques. Dr. Secombe and her team will use novel methods to analyze the genomes of single cells. They will also focus on the role of Myc, a transcription factor (i.e., a protein regulating gene expression) known to affect aging in model organisms. By determining interconnections among Myc transposons that contribute to aging, the team may develop strategies for suppressing this activity and, ultimately, improve human longevity. Dr. Secombe is associate professor of genetics and is associate professor in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience. (1R01AG053269-01A1)
Publication: Dr. Steve Walkley
Monday, October 02, 2017
Steven Walkley, D.V.M., Ph.D., has co-authored a study in the August 10 issue of The Lancet showing that the drug 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) can safely slow NPC1's progression. Patients received monthly or bi-weekly spinal injections of the drug for 18 months. Following the treatment period, biochemical and neurological tests showed that, compared with historical data for patients the same age, patients treated with the drug experienced significantly less cognitive dysfunction, with minimal side effects. Dr. Walkley is director of the Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center and professor in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, in the department of pathology, and in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology at Einstein.
Publication: Dr. Pablo Castillo
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Pablo Castillo, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues identified a novel form of LTP in which synaptic strengthening depends on the presynaptic neuron (which releases the neurotransmitter into the synapse) rather than on the postsynaptic neuron (which receives the neurotransmitter). This form of LTP may be involved in learning as well as the neuronal excitation that causes temporal lobe epilepsy. The researchers reported their findings online on August 16 in Neuron. Dr. Castillo is professor in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, as well as the Harold and Muriel Block Chair in Neuroscience.
Grant Award: Dr. Noboru Hiroi
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Noboru Hiroi, Ph.D., has been awarded a five-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders to investigate the interplay among genes, early social communication and neonatal maternal care in determining the severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Working with a genetic mouse model of ASD, Dr. Hiroi’s lab has observed that newborn mice display an unusual vocalization or “call,” to communicate with their mothers and that this abnormal call reduces the level of maternal care that newborns receive. The researchers will study whether abnormal newborn-to-mother vocalization is caused by ASD-related gene variants and whether this early experience of social communication gone awry worsens ASD-like behaviors through the epigenetic modification of these gene variants. Dr. Hiroi is professor in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. (1R01DC015776-01A1)
Grant Award: Dr. Scott Emmons
Thursday, March 23, 2017
The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded Scott W. Emmons, Ph.D., a five-year, $2 million grant to investigate the synaptic connections that allow signals to travel from neuron to neuron throughout the brain. The researchers will conduct their studies on the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which depends on genes similar to those that lay down the neuronal architecture in human brains. Through a combination of genetic, molecular and biochemical studies, the research should shed light on the function of these genes and the factors that make accurate nerve connectivity possible. Dr. Emmons is professor of genetics and of neuroscience and holds the Siegfried Ullmann Chair in Molecular Genetics. (1R01MH112689-01)
Publication: Dr. Kamran Khodakhah
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
New Target For Dystonia Therapy—Dystonia—when someone’s muscles contract uncontrollably—is the third most common movement disorder (after Parkinson’s and essential tremor), affecting about 250,000 Americans. Research and treatment for the most common inherited form of dystonia, called DYT1, has focused mainly on the basal ganglia region of the brain. But new animal research by Einstein scientists implicates a different part of the brain—the cerebellum—as the site of the problem. The study, published in the February 15 online issue of eLife, was led by Kamran Khodakhah, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience and the Harold and Muriel Block Chair in Neuroscience. He and his colleagues made their discovery after generating the first mouse model of DYT1 to exhibit the overt symptoms of dystonia seen in patients. Previous research in Dr. Khodakhah’s lab has shown that severing the link between the cerebellum and the basal ganglia might be an effective way to treat cerebellar-induced dystonias.
Grant Award: Dr. Hiroi - CINP Lilly Neuroscience Basic Research Award
Sunday, July 03, 2016
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Noboru Hiroi was awarded the 2016 Lilly Neuroscience Basic Research Award by the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP). Dr. Hiroi will be honored at the opening ceremony of the CINP congress held in Seoul, Korea July 3-5th, 2016
Grant Award: 2016 Junior Investigator Neurosci. Research Awards
Friday, July 01, 2016
We are pleased to announce that the 2016 JINRA awardees are Randy Stout from the Spray Lab and Steven Cook & Leo Tang respectively from the Emmons and Buelow Labs. For more information about the JINRA program, please see the recent About Campus feature article.
Publication: Dr. Noboru Hiroi
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Dr. Noboru Hiroi and collaborators recently published Takahashi T, Okabe S, Broin PÓ, Nishi A, Ye K, Beckert MV, Izumi T, Machida A, Kang G, Abe S, Pena JL, Golden A, Kikusui T, Hiroi N. Structure and function of neonatal social communication in a genetic mouse model of autism. Mol Psychiatry. Dec 15, 2015. doi: 10.1038/mp.2015.190. The publication was recently featured online at the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation website and also discussed at Spectrum News.
Publication: Drs. Scott Emmons and David Hall
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Drs. Scott Emmons, David Hall and colleagues have co-authored a feature article for the upcoming "Neuro Special" issue of Nature, Sammut et al. “Glia-derived neurons are required for sex-specific learning in C. elegans.”
News: Dystonia Medical Research Foundation Bronx Zoo Walk
Sunday, October 04, 2015
Members, friends and family of the Neuroscience Department will be walking and fundraising in the Dystance4Dystonia Bronx Zoo Walk, being held on October 4th, 2015 at the Bronx Zoo. Participants should enter via the Southern Blvd gate. Registration begins at 8:00AM, while the event begins at 9:30AM. For more information about Dystonia, click here.
Publication: Dr. Donald Faber
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Dr. Donald Faber and collaborators published the following paper: Cao Y, Bartolomé-Martín D, Rotem N, Rozas C, Dellal SS, Chacon MA, Kadriu B, Gulinello M, Khodakhah K, Faber DS. Rescue of homeostatic regulation of striatal excitability and locomotor activity in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. PNAS USA. 112(7):2239-44, 2015.
Publication: Dr. Noboru Hiroi
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Dr. Noboru Hiroi and collaborators published the following paper: Boku S, Toda H, Nakagawa S, Kato A, Inoue T, Koyama T, Hiroi N, Kusumi I. Neonatal Maternal Separation Alters the Capacity of Adult Neural Precursor Cells to Differentiate into Neurons Via Methylation of Retinoic Acid Receptor Gene Promoter. Biol Psychiatry. 77(4):335-44, 2015.
Publication: Dr. Aristea Galanopoulou
Monday, December 01, 2014
Dr. Aristea Galanopoulou was the Guest Editor for a special issue of Neurobiol Dis. and published the following introduction: Galanopoulou AS. Sex and epileptogenesis, introduction to the special issue. Neurobiol Dis. 72 PB:123-4, 2014 as well as additional papers with collaborators: Giorgi FS, Galanopoulou AS, Moshé SL. Sex dimorphism in seizure-controlling networks. Neurobiol Dis. 72 PB:144-152, 2014 and Akman O, Moshé SL, Galanopoulou AS. Sex-specific consequences of early life seizures. Neurobiol Dis. 72 PB:153-166, 2014. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2014.05.021. Epub 2014 May 27. Review.
Publication: Dr. Joseph Arezzo
Monday, December 01, 2014
Dr. Joseph Arezzo and collaborators published the following paper: Manning DC, Alexander G, Arezzo JC, Cooper A, Harden RN, Oaklander AL, Raja SN, Rauck R, Schwartzman R. Lenalidomide for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1: Lack of Efficacy in a Phase II Randomized Study. J Pain. 15(12):1366-76, 2014.
Grant Award: Dr. Yonatan Fishman
Monday, December 01, 2014
Dr. Yonatan Fishman was awarded an NIH multi-PI grant R01DC013961 with co-investigator Dr. Yale Cohen (University of Pennsylvania). The project examines neural bases of auditory scene analysis in behaving non-human primates.
Publication: Dr. Michael Bennett
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Dr. Michael Bennett and collaborators published the following paper: Takeuchi K, Yang Y, Takayasu Y, Gertner M, Hwang JY, Aromolaran K, Bennett MV, Suzanne Zukin R. Estradiol pretreatment ameliorates impaired synaptic plasticity at synapses of insulted CA1 neurons after transient global ischemia. Brain Res. [Epub ahead of print], 2014.