Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute


Showing 21-40 of 40 Results

  • Elizabeth Mellins

    Elizabeth Mellins

    Member, Bio-X

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMolecular mechanisms and intracellular pathways of MHC class II antigen processing and presentation, with a focus on B cells; mechanisms underlying HLA allele association with disease; disease mechanisms in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, including an HLA-linked complication; monocytes as drivers or suppressors of auto-inflammation in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis and pediatric acute neuropsychiatric syndrome.

  • Nicholas Melosh

    Nicholas Melosh

    Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

    BioThe Melosh group explores how to apply new methods from the semiconductor and self-assembly fields to important problems in biology, materials, and energy. We think about how to rationally design engineered interfaces to enhance communication with biological cells and tissues, or to improve energy conversion and materials synthesis. In particular, we are interested in seamlessly integrating inorganic structures together with biology for improved cell transfection and therapies, and designing new materials, often using diamondoid molecules as building blocks.
    My group is very interested in how to design new inorganic structures that will seamless integrate with biological systems to address problems that are not feasible by other means. This involves both fundamental work such as to deeply understand how lipid membranes interact with inorganic surfaces, electrokinetic phenomena in biologically relevant solutions, and applying this knowledge into new device designs. Examples of this include “nanostraw” drug delivery platforms for direct delivery or extraction of material through the cell wall using a biomimetic gap-junction made using nanoscale semiconductor processing techniques. We also engineer materials and structures for neural interfaces and electronics pertinent to highly parallel data acquisition and recording. For instance, we have created inorganic electrodes that mimic the hydrophobic banding of natural transmembrane proteins, allowing them to ‘fuse’ into the cell wall, providing a tight electrical junction for solid-state patch clamping. In addition to significant efforts at engineering surfaces at the molecular level, we also work on ‘bridge’ projects that span between engineering and biological/clinical needs. My long history with nano- and microfabrication techniques and their interactions with biological constructs provide the skills necessary to fabricate and analyze new bio-electronic systems.


    Research Interests:
    Bio-inorganic Interface
    Molecular materials at interfaces
    Self-Assembly and Nucleation and Growth

  • Vinod Menon

    Vinod Menon

    Rachael L. and Walter F. Nichols, MD, Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Education and of Neurology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEXPERIMENTAL, CLINICAL AND THEORETICAL SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE

    Cognitive neuroscience; Systems neuroscience; Cognitive development; Psychiatric neuroscience; Functional brain imaging; Dynamical basis of brain function; Nonlinear dynamics of neural systems.

  • Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD

    Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD

    Craig Reynolds Professor of Sleep Medicine and Professor, by courtesy, of Genetics and of Neurology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe research focus of the laboratory is the study of sleep and sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and Kleine Levin syndrome. We also study the neurobiological and genetic basis of the EEG and develop new tools to study sleep using nocturnal polysomnography. Approaches mostly involve human genetic studies (GWAS, sequencing), EEG signal analysis (deep learning), and immunology (narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease of the brain). We also work on autoimmune encephalitis.

  • Arnold Milstein

    Arnold Milstein

    Professor of Medicine (General Medical Discipline)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDesign national demonstration of innovations in care delivery that provide more with less. Informed by research on AI-assisted clinical workflow, positive value outlier analysis and triggers of loss aversion bias among patients and clinicians.

    Research on creation of a national index of health system productivity gain.

  • Daria Mochly-Rosen

    Daria Mochly-Rosen

    George D. Smith Professor of Translational Medicine

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsTwo areas: 1. Using rationally-designed peptide inhibitors to study protein-protein interactions in cell signaling. Focus: protein kinase C in heart and large GTPases regulating mitochondrial dynamics in neurodegdenration. 2. Using small molecules (identified in a high throughput screens and synthetic chemistry) as activators and inhibitors of aldehyde dehydrogenases, a family of detoxifying enzymes, and glucose-6-phoshate dehydrogenase, in normal cells and in models of human diseases.

  • W. E. Moerner

    W. E. Moerner

    Harry S. Mosher Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsLaser spectroscopy and microscopy of single molecules to probe biological systems, one biomolecule at a time. Primary thrusts: fluorescence microscopy far beyond the optical diffraction limit (PALM/STORM/STED), methods for 3D optical microscopy in cells, and trapping of single biomolecules in solution for extended study. We explore protein localization patterns in bacteria, structures of amyloid aggregates in cells, signaling proteins in the primary cilium, and dynamics of DNA and RNA.

  • Michelle Monje

    Michelle Monje

    Milan Gambhir Professor of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology and Professor, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery, of Pediatrics, of Pathology and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Monje Lab studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of postnatal neurodevelopment. This includes microenvironmental influences on neural precursor cell fate choice in normal neurodevelopment and in disease states.

  • Andrea Montanari

    Andrea Montanari

    John D. and Sigrid Banks Professor and Professor of Mathematics

    BioI am interested in developing efficient algorithms to make sense of large amounts of noisy data, extract information from observations, estimate signals from measurements. This effort spans several disciplines including statistics, computer science, information theory, machine learning.
    I am also working on applications of these techniques to healthcare data analytics.

  • Thomas Montine, MD, PhD

    Thomas Montine, MD, PhD

    Stanford Medicine Professor of Pathology

    BioDr. Montine received his education at Columbia University (BA in Chemistry), the University of Rochester (PhD in Pharmacology), and McGill University (MD and CM). His postgraduate medical training was at Duke University, and he was junior faculty at Vanderbilt University where he was awarded the Thorne Professorship in Pathology. In 2002, Dr. Montine was appointed as the Alvord Endowed Professor in Neuropathology and Director of the Division of Neuropathology at the University of Washington. He was Director of the University of Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, one of the original 10 Centers in the US, and passed that responsibility to able colleagues. Dr. Montine was the founding Director of the Pacific Udall Center, a NINDS-funded Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease Research. In 2010, Dr. Montine was appointed Chair of the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington. In 2016, Dr. Montine was appointed Chair of the Department of Pathology at Stanford University where he is the Stanford Medicine Endowed Professor in Pathology.

    The focus of the Montine Laboratory is on the structural and molecular bases of cognitive impairment. The Montine Laboratory addresses this prevalent, unmet medical need through a combination of neuropathology, biomarkers for detection and progression of early disease, and experimental studies that test hypotheses concerning specific mechanisms of neuron injury and then develop novel approaches to neuroprotection. Our current approaches include small molecule precision therapeutics and cell replacement strategies for brain.

  • Tirin Moore

    Tirin Moore

    Ben Barres Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study neural mechanisms of visual-motor integration and the neural basis of cognition (e.g. attention). We study the activity of single neurons in visual and motor structures within the brain, examine how perturbing that activity affects neurons in other brain structures, and also how it affects the perceptual and

  • Elizabeth Mormino

    Elizabeth Mormino

    Assistant Professor (Research) of Neurology (Neurology Research Faculty)

    BioDr. Beth Mormino completed a PhD in Neuroscience at UC Berkeley in the laboratory of Dr. William Jagust, where she performed some of the initial studies applying Amyloid PET with the tracer PIB to clinically normal older individuals. This initial work provided evidence that the pathophysiological processes of Alzheimer’s disease begin years before clinical symptoms and are associated with subtle changes to brain regions critical for memory. During her postdoctoral fellowship with Drs. Reisa Sperling and Keith Johnson at Massachusetts General Hospital she used multimodal imaging techniques to understand longitudinal cognitive changes among individuals classified as preclinical AD. In 2017, Dr. Mormino joined the faculty at Stanford University in the department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences. Her research program focuses on combining imaging and genetics to predict cognitive trajectories over time, and the integration of novel PET scans to better understand human aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

  • Michael Moseley

    Michael Moseley

    Professor of Radiology (Radiological Sciences Lab)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMR physics into tissue contrast mechanisms such as diffusion, perfusion, and functional imaging describes the research direction. Applications of cerebral stroke (brain attacks) and neurocognitive disorders are also being developed from these methods

  • Heather E. Moss, MD, PhD

    Heather E. Moss, MD, PhD

    Professor of Ophthalmology and of Neurology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am a clinician scientist with a background in engineering, epidemiology and neuro-ophthalmology. In my research, I combine tools from these disciplines with the goal of understanding and preventing vision loss from optic nerve diseases. My focus is on papilledema, the swelling of the optic nerve head due to elevation in intracranial pressure, which we are characterizing using electrophysiological and imaging techniques. Other areas of interest are peri-operative vision loss and optic neuritis.

  • Philippe Mourrain

    Philippe Mourrain

    Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator)

    BioExpertise: Neurobiology, Sleep sciences, Molecular Genetics, Developmental Biology, Gene Silencing/Epigenetics

    Methodology: Synapse Imaging (Two photon microscopy, Array Tomography), Calcium Imaging (Light Sheet Microscopy/SPIM, Light Field Microscopy), Optogenetics, CLARITY, Tol2 transgenesis, TALENs, CRISPR/Cas9, Video tracking and behavior computation.

  • Prithvi Mruthyunjaya, MD, MHS

    Prithvi Mruthyunjaya, MD, MHS

    Professor of Ophthalmology and, by courtesy, of Radiation Oncology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr Mruthyunjaya has maintained a broad research interest with publications in both ocular oncology and retinal diseases.
    His focus is on multi-modal imaging of ocular tumors and understanding imaging clues that may predict vision loss after ocular radiation therapy. He coordinates multi-center research on the role of genetic testing and outcomes of treatments of ocular melanoma.
    In the field of retinal diseases, his interests are in intra-operative imaging to enhance surgical accuracy.

  • David Myung, MD, PhD

    David Myung, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNovel biomaterials to reconstruct the wounded cornea
    Mesenchymal stem cell therapy for corneal and ocular surface regeneration
    Engineered biomolecule therapies for promote corneal wound healing

    Telemedicine in ophthalmology