2024 Neuroscience Research in Review

Dec 14 2024

Wu Tsai Neuro Staff

Each year, researchers across Stanford’s seven schools advance our understanding of the mind and brain through research ranging from biochemistry to behavior and beyond.

Below we have compiled 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:

Dopamine and serotonin work in opposition to shape learning

Nov 25 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

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

Research image showing overlapping green and red neurons in a dark brain slice — A double-transgenic mouse line enabled simultaneous visualization and control of dopamine and serotonin neurons in behaving animals during learning. This coronal brain section shows the overlap of dopamine- and serotonin-containing nerve fibers in the nucleus accumbens.

New voltage indicator enables ultra-sensitive synaptic imaging

Oct 29 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Bioengineers and neuroscientists led by Michael Lin and supported by the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute have developed a highly sensitive tool for detecting brain cells’ subtlest electrical signals.

Michael Z Lin — Michael Lin, associate professor of neurobiology and bioengineering, led the development of a new molecular tool capable of detecting the smallest electrical fluctuations in neurons and their synapses. Illustration credit: Julia Diaz, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

Discovery sheds light on earliest development of gut motility

Sep 4 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

A collaboration between Institute Faculty Scholars Julia Kaltschmidt and Todd Coleman has identified a key step in nervous system control over gut motility, opening new opportunities for understanding GI disorders in premature infants

Research figure showing newly discovered ripples in the developing mouse intestine — Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute researchers studied isolated mouse intestines (A–C) to identify different patterns of GI motility during embryonic development. Spatiotemporal maps of GI motility revealed the onset of "clustered ripples" around embryonic day 16.5.

Drugs that improve brain metabolism could help Alzheimer’s patients

Aug 22 2024 | Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience

A team of neuroscientists at the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience have zeroed in on a critical regulator of brain metabolism that may be over-activated in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers showed that mice with a genetic model of Alzheimer's disease lose glucose metabolism in the memory region of the hippocampus (center: 'APP/PS1' vs left: 'control'), but IDO1 inhibitor drugs restore normal metabolic levels (right: 'APP/PS1 + IDO1 inhibitor'). Credit: Minhas et al, Nature (2024)

Q&A: Unlocking the secrets of taurine in obesity control

Aug 7 2024 | Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience

Groundbreaking research supported by the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute deepens our understanding of how the amino acid taurine may help reduce appetite and prevent obesity.

Jonathan Long, an associate professor of pathology and an Institute Scholar at Sarafan ChEM-H, is on the trail of the molecular signatures of exercise. Illustration credit: Julia Diaz, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

The Worm Has Turned: DIY Lab Platform Evaluates New Molecules in Minutes

Jun 27 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

New software developed by the NeuroPlant Big Ideas in Neuroscience initiative turns an ordinary flatbed scanner and collection of nematode worms into a DIY platform to sniff out both beneficial and harmful plant-based molecules.

Sue Rhee, Thomas Clandinin and Miriam B. Goodman discuss the NeuroPlant project over a tobacco plant in the greenhouse. — *Sue Rhee, Thomas Clandinin and Miriam B. Goodman discuss the NeuroPlant project over a tobacco plant in the Stanford greenhouse. Credit: L.A. Cicero*

Neuroscientists use AI to simulate how the brain makes sense of the visual world

May 28 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

A research team at Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, led by Institute Faculty Scholar Dan Yamins and Institute affiliate Kalanit Grill-Spector, has made a major stride in using AI to replicate how the brain organizes sensory information to make sense of the world, opening up new frontiers for virtual neuroscience.

Summary figure illustrating topographical neural network research by Margalit et al 2024 — Researchers demonstrated that topographic deep artificial neural networks (TDANN) that were required to minimize the distances between related artificial "neurons" produced similar map-like layouts as researchers have long seen in mammalian visual cortex.

Neuroscience sheds light on childhood gut disorders

Apr 15 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

The recent discovery that intestinal neurons normally self-organize into a striped pattern around the time of birth could help explain wide-ranging GI disorders in children, say Wu Tsai Neuro Faculty Scholar Julia Kaltschmidt and her team.

*Figure showing revised model of gut nervous system development in which failure to properly develop stripes could contribute to GI disorders. (Image credit: Kaltschmidt Lab)*

Research links age-related inflammation, microglia and Alzheimer’s Disease

Mar 27 2024 | Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience

Pro-inflammatory protein TREM1 in peripheral immune cells may promote age-related cognitive decline and dementia, according to Knight Initiative–funded research from the lab of Katrin Andreasson, led by senior scientist Edward Wilson.

katrin andreasson suppressing immune cells — *Katrin Andreasson, MD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences. (Source Steve Fisch, Stanford Medicine)*

Neuronal and synaptic genes expanded in size and diversity during evolution

Mar 25 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Research by Wu Tsai Neuro Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar Matt McCoy suggests giant genes could hold the key to the development of complex nervous systems across the animal kingdom.

Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Interdisciplinary Scholar Matt McCoy — *Wu Tsai Neuro Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar Matt McCoy. Image credit: Steve Fisch.*

Unlocking the secrets of myelin repair

Mar 22 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

New research supported by Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute could lead to novel treatments for demyelinating disorders such as multiple sclerosis. The research was led by Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars Tal Iram and Miguel Garcia, and overseen by Institute affiliate Bradley Zuchero.

Image of actin filaments (cyan) and an actin regulatory protein (magenta) in a differentiating oligodendrocyte. — Fluorescence image of a myelin-producing oligodendrocyte precursor cell.

Alzheimer’s risk gene tied to fatty blobs in brain’s immune cells

Mar 20 2024 | Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience

Research from Tony Wyss-Coray's group has identified a link between lipid droplets in the microglia to a known genetic risk factor for AD.

*Schematic of the proposed role of LD + microglia in neurodegeneration. *P < 0.01, **P < 0.001,****P < 0.0001. Image credit: Wyss-Coray Lab.*

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s biomarkers show promise for early diagnosis

Mar 19 2024 | Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience

Two Knight Initiative–supported studies from the labs of Tony Wyss-Coray and Kathleen Poston highlight groundbreaking new early biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative disease.

AI generated watercolor image of a brain. — AI-generated image illustrates the concepts of neurodegenerative disease biomarkers in the brain. Generated by DALL-E.

The neural switch that keeps us grounded as we daydream

Mar 14 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Dentate spikes in the rodent hippocampus support learning by linking introspective thoughts and memories with current circumstances, according to new research from Wu Tsai Neuro Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar Ernie Hwaun in the lab of Ivan Soltesz.

Illustration of a brain emitting electrical discharge against a sky with a green aurora

Provided by Ernie Hwaun

Knight-funded research uncovers gene mutations that may prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

Feb 22 2024 | Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience

Disabling the notorious APOE4 gene might protect against the disease, according to research from Michael Greicius and team supported by the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience.

Amyloid plaque burden image generated by DALL-E — AI-generated image illustrates discoveries linking gene to protective effect against amyloid plaque burden. Generated by DALL-E.

3d rendering of of a flat kirigami electrode array expanding into 3-d "cradle" to support and study the development of human brain organoids and assembloids — Illustration of electrode "cradle" designed to hold growing brain organoids and assembloids. Courtesy Cui Lab.

‘Kirigami’ electrodes unfold new horizons for brain organoid research

Jan 22 2024 | Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Inspired by Japanese paper art, a new device can record from 3D ‘organoid’ models of the developing human brain for months without disturbing their growth or structure. The technology was developed by Bianxiao Cui's group for the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program, an initiative of Wu Tsai Neuro's Big Ideas in Neuroscience program.

Banner Illustration generated by Nicholas Weiler using GPT4o and Dall-E-3 via Stanford's AI Playground.