Knight Initiative News

Wu Tsai Neuro faculty scholar Guosong Hong explains how he and colleagues have used a dye commonly found in nacho chips to make living tissue transparent.

Wu Tsai Neuro faculty scholar Guosong Hong has been awarded a 2025 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Research supported by a Knight Initiative Catalyst Grant explores whether targeting pathways related to the brain’s “chill-out” system could restore youthful resilience and improve cognitive function.

Liqun Luo, the Ann and Bill Swindells Professor and professor in the department of biology, is the recipient of the 2025 National Academy of Sciences Award in the Neurosciences. Awarded every three years, the prize recognizes extraordinary contributions to the progress of the fields of neuroscience. Luo is recognized for his contributions to our understanding of the development and organization of neural circuits.

A new generation of researchers at Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute is developing tools to modify brain activity for research and clinical applications—without drilling through the skull.

Juliet Knowles's research has recently shown that the brain can use adaptive myelination to perfect “skills” that are actually pathological, such as having seizures.

Stanford Medicine research demonstrates a new way of detecting cells implicated in the malfunctions that cause psychiatric diseases.

Vincent V.C. Woo Director Kang Shen welcomes the Wu Tsai Neuro community to 2025, reflects on our recent milestones, and shares some exciting developments on the horizon.

Stanford University researchers have released a groundbreaking virtual reality (VR) application designed to help children prepare for MRI scans. The app, now available for free on the Oculus store, aims to reduce anxiety, improve scan quality, and educate young patients about the MRI experience.

Researchers at Stanford’s Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience merge spatial transcriptomics and AI to uncover how local cellular interactions drive brain aging and resilience

Researchers at Stanford Engineering have developed a lightweight, comfortable knit sleeve that uses pressure-based haptics to simulate touch, opening up new possibilities for wearable devices.

Academic leaders debated the future of the intersecting study of natural and artificial intelligence at Wu Tsai Neuro’s Annual Symposium

Join us as we look back on some of the key studies we covered here at Wu Tsai Neuro in 2024 to give a (very partial) overview of the impact of our community’s research efforts this past year

Alice Ting and colleagues have built a new synthetic receptor with  broad potential to program cell activity, including immune response and neurological signaling.

This week on the podcast, Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky lays out his view that we should stop judging one another (and ourselves) for behaviors we can't control

New research from the Malenka lab reveals that reward-based learning requires the two neuromodulators to balance one another's influence.

New research shows aging is not a uniform process. Parts of our bodies start aging earlier than others, right down to our organs and cells.

Fat-filled microglia may play a role in the damage caused by Alzheimer’s, especially for those who carry two copies a particular gene.

We're diving back into the world of psychedelic medicine with anesthesiologists Boris Heifets and Theresa Lii, who share intriguing new data that sheds light on how ketamine and placebo effects may interact in treating depression.

How early cognitive research funded by the NSF paved the way for today’s AI breakthroughs—and how AI is now inspiring new understandings of the human mind.