Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute


Showing 121-140 of 597 Results

  • Ron Dror

    Ron Dror

    Cheriton Family Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Structural Biology and of Molecular & Cellular Physiology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy lab’s research focuses on computational biology, with an emphasis on 3D molecular structure. We combine two approaches: (1) Bottom-up: given the basic physics governing atomic interactions, use simulations to predict molecular behavior; (2) Top-down: given experimental data, use machine learning to predict molecular structures and properties. We collaborate closely with experimentalists and apply our methods to the discovery of safer, more effective drugs.

  • David Drover

    David Drover

    Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (MSD), Emeritus

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsField of clinical pharmacology. This involves analysis of what the body does to a drug (pharmacokinetics) and how exactly a specific drug affects the body (pharmacodynamics). His research starts at the level of new drug development with detailed analysis of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of a medication.

  • Shaul Druckmann

    Shaul Druckmann

    Associate Professor of Neurobiology, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research goal is to understand how dynamics in neuronal circuits relate and constrain the representation of information and computations upon it. We adopt three synergistic strategies: First, we analyze neural circuit population recordings to better understand the relation between neural dynamics and behavior, Second, we theoretically explore the types of dynamics that could be associated with particular network computations. Third, we analyze the structural properties of neural circuits.

  • Justin Du Bois

    Justin Du Bois

    Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology

    BioResearch and Scholarship

    Research in the Du Bois laboratory spans reaction methods development, natural product synthesis, and chemical biology, and draws on expertise in molecular design, molecular recognition, and physical organic chemistry. An outstanding goal of our program has been to develop C–H bond functionalization processes as general methods for organic chemistry, and to demonstrate how such tools can impact the logic of chemical synthesis. A second area of interest focuses on the role of ion channels in electrical conduction and the specific involvement of channel subtypes in the sensation of pain. This work is enabled in part through the advent of small molecule modulators of channel function.

    The Du Bois group has described new tactics for the selective conversion of saturated C–H to C–N and C–O bonds. These methods have general utility in synthesis, making possible the single-step incorporation of nitrogen and oxygen functional groups and thus simplifying the process of assembling complex molecules. To date, lab members have employed these versatile oxidation technologies to prepare natural products that include manzacidin A and C, agelastatin, tetrodotoxin, and saxitoxin. Detailed mechanistic studies of metal-catalyzed C–H functionalization reactions are performed in parallel with process development and chemical synthesis. These efforts ultimately give way to advances in catalyst design. A long-standing goal of this program is to identify robust catalyst systems that afford absolute control of reaction selectivity.

    In a second program area, the Du Bois group is exploring voltage-gated ion channel structure and function using the tools of chemistry in combination with those of molecular biology, electrophysiology, microscopy and mass spectrometry. Much of this work has focused on studies of eukaryotic Na and Cl ion channels. The Du Bois lab is interested in understanding the biochemical mechanisms that underlie channel subtype regulation and how such processes may be altered following nerve injury. Small molecule toxins serve as lead compounds for the design of isoform-selective channel modulators, affinity reagents, and fluorescence imaging probes. Access to toxins and modified forms thereof (including saxitoxin, gonyautoxin, batrachotoxin, and veratridine) through de novo synthesis drives studies to elucidate toxin-receptor interactions and to develop new pharmacologic tools to study ion channel function in primary cells and murine pain models.

  • Alfredo Dubra, PhD

    Alfredo Dubra, PhD

    Professor of Ophthalmology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab seeks to help the early diagnosing and monitoring progression of ocular, vascular, neurodegenerative and systemic diseases through novel non-invasive optical ophthalmic imaging. We pursue this goal through a multidisciplinary approach that integrates optics, computer science, vision science, electrical engineering and other engineering disciplines.

  • Laramie Duncan

    Laramie Duncan

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

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur work is at the intersection of statistical genetics, psychiatry, and neuroscience. We use massive datasets and primarily computational approaches to identify mechanisms contributing to mental health problems like schizophrenia and depression. The overall goal of the lab is to discover fundamental information about psychiatric disorders, and ultimately to build more effective approaches to classification, prevention, and treatment.

  • Alexander Dunn

    Alexander Dunn

    Professor of Chemical Engineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy lab is deeply interested in uncovering the physical principles that underlie the construction of complex, multicellular animal life.

  • James Dunn

    James Dunn

    Professor of Surgery (Pediatric Surgery) and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsIntestinal lengthening for short bowel syndrome
    Intestinal stem cell therapy for intestinal failure
    Skin derived precursor cell therapy for enteric neuromuscular dysfunction
    Intestinal tissue engineering

  • Emmanuel During, MD

    Emmanuel During, MD

    Member, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsImproving diagnostics and therapeutics in RBD, using home ambulatory devices including wearable actigraphy, dry-EEG, to power clinical trials based on objective outcomes of RBD activity.

    Controlling symptoms of RBD testing drugs rigorously.

    Predicting the course of neurodegeneration using deep phenotyping using clinical and serum biomarkers, measures of autonomic impairment, skin biopsy, microbiome

  • Shirit Einav

    Shirit Einav

    Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Microbiology and Immunology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur basic research program focuses on understanding the roles of virus-host interactions in viral infection and disease pathogenesis via molecular and systems virology single cell approaches. This program is combined with translational efforts to apply this knowledge for the development of broad-spectrum host-centered antiviral approaches to combat emerging viral infections, including dengue, coronaviruses, encephalitic alphaviruses, and Ebola, and means to predict progression to severe disease.

  • Abbas El Gamal

    Abbas El Gamal

    Hitachi America Professor in the School of Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy

    BioAbbas El Gamal is the Hitachi America Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He received his B.Sc. Honors degree from Cairo University in 1972, and his M.S. in Statistics and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering both from Stanford University in 1977 and 1978, respectively. From 1978 to 1980, he was an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at USC. From 2003 to 2012, he was the Director of the Information Systems Laboratory at Stanford University. From 2012 to 2017 he was Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. His research contributions have been in network information theory, FPGAs, and digital imaging devices and systems. He has authored or coauthored over 230 papers and holds 35 patents in these areas. He is coauthor of the book Network Information Theory (Cambridge Press 2011). He has received several honors and awards for his research contributions, including the 2016 Richard W. Hamming Medal, the 2012 Claude E. Shannon Award, and the 2004 INFOCOM Paper Award. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the IEEE. He has co-founded and served on the board of directors and advisory boards of several semiconductor and biotechnology startup companies.

  • Cameron Ellis

    Cameron Ellis

    Assistant Professor of Psychology

    BioDr. Cameron Ellis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. He leads the Scaffolding of Cognition Team, which focuses on the question: What is it like to be an infant? His team uses methods from neuroscience and cognitive science to assess the basic building blocks of the developing mind and answer this question. They are particularly interested in questions about how infants perceive, attend, learn, and remember. One prominent approach they use is fMRI with awake behaving infants. This provides unprecedented ways to access the cognitive mechanisms underlying the infant mind.

    Dr. Ellis received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2021. Before that, he received a Masters from Princeton University (2017) and a Bachelor of Science from Auckland University, New Zealand (2013). He was awarded the FLUX Dissertation Prize (2021) and the James Grossman Dissertation Prize (2021), as well as the William Kessen Teaching Award (2019).

  • Edgar Engleman

    Edgar Engleman

    Professor of Pathology and of Medicine (Immunology and Rheumatology)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDendritic cells, macrophages, NK cells and T cells; functional proteins and genes; immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer, autoimmune disease, neurodegenerative disease and metabolic disease.

  • Neir Eshel, MD, PhD

    Neir Eshel, MD, PhD

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

    BioDr. Eshel (he/him/his) is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.

    His clinical focus is the full-spectrum mental health care of sexual and gender minorities, with particular interest in depression, anxiety, and the complex effects of trauma in this population. He works in collaboration with other primary care and mental health providers at the Stanford LGBTQ+ program.

    His research interests (www.staarlab.com) include the use of optogenetic, electrophysiological, neuroimaging, and behavioral approaches to probe the neural circuits of reward processing, decision making, and social behavior. He has won multi-year grants from the National Institutes of Health, Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and Simons Foundation to further his research.

    Dr. Eshel has published articles on dopamine and motivation, the neuroscience of irritability, LGBTQ health, reward and punishment processing in depression, behavioral predictors of substance use among adolescents, and the mechanism of transcranial magnetic stimulation. His work has appeared in Nature, Science, Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, Annual Review of Neuroscience, JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Journal of Neuroscience. He is a co-inventor on a patent pending for a new class of drugs for addiction, and also the author of the book Learning: The Science Inside, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

    He has delivered presentations on the neural circuits of motivated behavior, anger expression in patients with PTSD, how dopamine facilitates learning, and LGBTQ-related topics at departmental seminars in London, Zurich, and Tel Aviv, and at the meetings of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, and Association of American Medical Colleges, among others. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, and an ad-hoc reviewer for numerous publications including Nature, Science, JAMA Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, and Current Biology.

    Dr. Eshel has won honors for his scholarship and advocacy, including the Marshall Scholarship, the Outstanding Resident Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Science and SciLifeLab Grand Prize for Young Scientists, the Freedman Award (honorable mention) from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Polymath Award from Stanford's psychiatry department, and the National LGBT Health Achievement Award.

    He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, Association of Gay & Lesbian Psychiatrists, Society for Neuroscience, and other professional associations. He is also an advocate for LGBTQ rights, recently serving as the chair of Stanford's LGBTQ+ Benefits Advocacy Committee.

    Prior to Stanford, Dr. Eshel trained and conducted research at the National Institutes of Health, Princeton University, the World Health Organization, University College London, and Harvard University.

  • Robert Michael Fairchild

    Robert Michael Fairchild

    Assistant Professor of Medicine (Immunology and Rheumatology)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Fairchild’s research interests center on novel applications of ultrasonography in rheumatologic disease. Current active research endeavors include using ultrasound 1) to evaluate articular and soft tissue manifestations of systemic sclerosis, 2) to screen, detect and monitor of connective tissue disease associated interstitial lung disease, 3) and applying deep learning techniques to rheumatology ultrasound and imaging.

  • Ryann Fame, PhD

    Ryann Fame, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEarly neural progenitors respond to extrinsic cues that maintain and support their potency. These stem/ progenitor cells are in direct contact with the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which acts as part of their niche. Our research program encompasses the early neural stem cell niche, neural tube closure, CSF, metabolism, and cortical neuronal development. We are dedicated to broad collaboration focused on translating an understanding of neurodevelopment and CSF biology into regenerative strategies.

  • Jonathan Fan

    Jonathan Fan

    Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOptical engineering plays a major role in imaging, communications, energy harvesting, and quantum technologies. We are exploring the next frontier of optical engineering on three fronts. The first is new materials development in the growth of crystalline plasmonic materials and assembly of nanomaterials. The second is novel methods for nanofabrication. The third is new inverse design concepts based on optimization and machine learning.

  • Judith Ellen Fan

    Judith Ellen Fan

    Assistant Professor of Psychology, by courtesy, of Education and of Computer Science

    BioI direct the Cognitive Tools Lab (https://cogtoolslab.github.io/) at Stanford University. Our lab aims to reverse engineer the human cognitive toolkit — in particular, how people use physical representations of thought to learn, communicate, and solve problems. Towards this end, we use a combination of approaches from cognitive science, computational neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.