Knight Initiative News

Stanford Neuroscientist, Karl Deisseroth helped create the field of optogenetics, spawning a suite of techniques to turn brain cells on and off with a combination of genetic manipulation and pulses of light.

McClelland recognized for his important and fundamental contributions to the use of neural networks to model cognitive processes of the brain.

Carrying a copy of a gene variant called ApoE4 confers a substantially greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease on women than it does on men.

The growing trend toward interdisciplinary research recognizes the need to share expertise in tackling complex problems and is fueled in part by increased funding for projects that span disciplines.

A protein once thought to exclusively work in the immune system turns out to be critical in the developing brain. The discovery by Stanford Bio-X scientists helps explain how the brain prunes back unused connections early in life, and could also lead to n

Stanford Neuroscientist Ricardo E. Dolmetsch has pioneered a major shift in autism research, largely putting aside behavioral questions to focus on cell biology and biochemistry at Stanford.

When initiated soon after menopause, hormone therapy with estradiol prevented degeneration in key brain regions of women who were at heightened dementia risk, according to a new study led by Stanford Neurosciences Institute researchers.

A team of Stanford Bio-X scientists has found the secret to how nerves withstand the wear and tear of bending joints and moving tissues: an elastic-like protein matrix that keeps them resilient.

A team of Stanford Neuroengineers has developed mice whose sensitivity to pain can be dialed up or down by shining light on their paws. The research could help scientists understand and eventually treat chronic pain in humans.

Stanford graduate students take human and animal brains into middle schools in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto.

The Neuroscience PhD students celebrated the leadership of John Huguenard on Friday, January 31 at a reception where he passed the torch to a new Director of the Graduate Program, Anthony Ricci.

This cross-discipline research that began with campus newts has led to discovery of a way to highlight the location of pain in a living animal. In the long run, this work, centered in Stanford’s Bio-X program, could also produce a new type of drug for tre

Sometimes big discoveries start with small conversations.

Jennifer Dionne, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, earned the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding researchers early in their careers.

Stanford University School of Medicine neuroscientists have discovered a new role played by a common but mysterious class of brain cells

Eight Stanford University scientists, including SNI Affiliates Michael Lin, Thomas Rando, and Tony Wyss-Coray, have received more than $17 million from the National Institutes of Health that will enable them to pursue innovative research in biomedicine.

Scientists have shown how a protein fragment known as beta-amyloid, strongly implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, begins destroying synapses before it clumps into plaques that lead to nerve cell death.

Researchers have shown that oxytocin — often referred to as "the love hormone" because of its importance in the formation and maintenance of strong mother-child and sexual attachments — is involved in a broader range of social interactions than previously

A defective trash-disposal system in the brain’s resident immune cells may be a major contributor to neurodegenerative disease. Preliminary observations show that this defect appears in the brains of patients who died of Alzheimer’s disease, so correcting

The steady accumulation of a protein in healthy, aging brains may explain seniors’ vulnerability to neurodegenerative disorders, a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine reports.