Here are summaries of a selection of the papers published by Duke Neurobiology in June 2019:
Mental Health:
- Kafui Dzirasa and team identified high levels of burnout, depression, and anxiety in a pilot study of biomedical doctoral students. Read more
Senses:
- The West and Yin labs demonstrate that sensorimotor striatal projection neurons (SPNs) control velocity during continuous pursuit, and show that the fast-spiking interneurons (FSIs)–SPN circuit implements the key computation required for the precise guidance of volitional behavior. Read more
- Rebecca Yang and collaborators uncover one mechanism by which Drosophila integrate taste and tactile information when deciding where to deposit their eggs and reveal that Transmembrane Channel-like (TMC)-expressing neurons play opposing roles in hardness discrimination in two different decisions. Read more
Social Interactions
- Katie Tschida and the Wang lab discovered how mice produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in social contexts, particularly during courtship. They identify and characterize specialized midbrain neurons that gate USV production. Read more