Research News
Yiyang Gong selected as a 2016 Vallee Foundation Young Investigator Awardee
August 12, 2016
Associate professor Yiyang Gong has been selected as a 2016 Vallee Foundation Young Investigator...
Fan Wang and Kafui Dzirasa receive $1 million award from Keck Foundation to research human consciousness
August 10, 2016
Two Duke University brain researchers who want to solve the long-standing puzzle of human...
Liedtke talks TRPV4 in Dublin
August 1, 2016
Wolfgang Liedtke, MD, PhD, traveled to Dublin on Friday, for a joint meeting of the American...
Research Points to a Fast-Acting Drug for OCD
July 18, 2016
A single chemical receptor in the brain is responsible for a range of symptoms in mice that are...
Gong Named 2016 Beckman Young Investigator
July 18, 2016
Congratulations are in order for Yiyang Gong, who has been named a 2016 Beckman Young Investigator...
Mooney Lab Paper in Neuron, "A Distributed Recurrent Network Contributes to Temporally Precise Vocalizations"
July 8, 2016
How do forebrain and brainstem circuits interact to produce temporally precise and reproducible...
Miguel Nicolelis Wins Emerging Technologies Award
July 1, 2016
Professor of Neurobiology Miguel Nicolelis, Ph.D. has been awarded the 2017 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Daniel E. Noble Award for Emerging Technologies for his seminal contributions to brain-machine interfaces.
Erich Jarvis, Ph.D., Richard D. Mooney, Ph.D. Neurodegeneration Research Featured in The Scientist
June 6, 2016
The brains of birds could reveal how human brains malfunction in diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Duke Neurobiology's Erich Jarvis, Ph.D. and Richard D. Mooney, Ph.D. use zebra finches to research neurodegeneration. Their work is featured in a recent article in The Scientist.
Scientists Discover and Test New Class of Pain Relievers
June 1, 2016
A research team at Duke University has discovered a potential new class of small-molecule drugs that simultaneously block two sought-after targets in the treatment of pain.
Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD to Present at Duke Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds on May 26
May 20, 2016
Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD will deliver a presentation titled "Next Generation Neuropsychiatric Diagnostics and Therapeutics” at the Duke Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds. The event will be held on Thursday, May 26 from noon to 1 p.m. in Duke North Lecture Hall 2002.
Alisa Cui Turns Duke Experiences into Science Fair Successes
May 13, 2016
Duke-mentored high school student Alisa Cui, of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, is presenting her results in Phoenix this week in Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Cui has worked in Jorg Grandl’s lab on the mechanism by which a family of proteins called Piezo ion channels allow cells to detect mechanical touch and eventually become desensitized to repeated stimulation and shut off.
Mouse Model of Autism Offers Insights to Human Patients, Potential Drug Targets
May 10, 2016
A new mouse model of a genetically-linked type of autism reveals more about the role of genes in the disorder and the underlying brain changes associated with autism’s social and learning problems. Scientists at Duke Health, including senior author Yong-hui Jiang, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of pediatrics and neurobiology, who developed the new model also discovered that targeting a brain receptor in mice with this type of autism could ease repetitive behaviors and improve learning in some animals.
Dr. Nicole Calakos, M.D., Ph.D on UNC TV's "Breaking Habits"
April 29, 2016
There is new insight on habits, how we form them and why it’s tough to change them. Duke University researchers have discovered that habits—good or bad—leave a lasting mark on specific circuits in the brain. Dr. Nicole Calakos, M.D., Ph.D explains on UNC TV's "Breaking Habits".
Mooney Lab Paper in Neuron, "The Basal Forebrain and Motor Cortex Provide Convergent yet Distinct Movement-Related Inputs to the Auditory Cortex"
April 25, 2016
Cholinergic inputs to the auditory cortex from the basal forebrain (BF) are important to auditory processing and plasticity, but little is known about the organization of these synapses onto different auditory cortical neuron types, how they influence auditory responsiveness, and their activity patterns during various behaviors. Mooney Lab's new paper in Neuron discusses the group's recent findings.
Fan Wang Wins Brain Research Foundation Award
March 30, 2016
Associate professor of neurobiology Fan Wang, PhD is one of four recipients of a Scientific Innovation Award from the Chicago-based Brain Research Foundation. The $150,000 grant will allow Wang to focus on the neuronal pathways underlying anesthesia-induced loss of consciousness.