BCM Dept of Neuroscience

Join us tomorrow for our seminar series!🧠

Dr. Farzan Nadim, from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, will present: “Convergent comodulation: Rules and influence on circuit input”

📅 Dec. 5, 2025
🕑 11am-12pm
📍 N315, Alkek

Join us Friday for our neuroscience seminar series!🧠

Dr. Nick Turk-Browne, from Yale University, will present: “Episodic and Statistical Learning in the Hippocampus”

📅 Nov. 21, 2025
🕑 11am-12pm
📍 111A Cullen

Congratulations to Dr. Francois St-Pierre on 10 years with the Department of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine! Dr. St-Pierre joined BCM in 2015 and has continued to make an impact ever since.

We appreciate his continued dedication and contributions to our team!

Join us Friday for our neuroscience seminar series!🧠

Dr. Yang Yang, from Purdue University, will present: “SCN2A-mediated autism and epilepsy: from mouse and hiPSCs models to genetic medicine”

📅 Nov. 7, 2025
🕑 11am-12pm
📍 M112 DeBakey

Prolonged exposure to food odors suppresses feeding via an olfactory bulb-to-hypothalamus circuit - Nature Communications Olfactory perception of food-derived odors influences feeding behavior, but the underlying neural pathways remain unclear. Here, the authors show that prolonged exposure to food odor suppresses food i...

Dr. Ben Arenkiel, Professor in the departments of Molecular & Human Genetics and Neuroscience, collaborated with other authors on a recent publication explaining how prolonged exposure to food odors can suppress appetite. Read about it here! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Join us Friday for our neuroscience seminar series!🧠

Dr. Forrest Collman, from the Allen Institute for Brain Science, will present: “Cortical Connectomics”

📅 Oct. 24, 2025
🕑 11am-12pm
📍 M112 DeBakey

Join us Friday for our seminar series!🧠

Dr. Peter Penzes, from Northwestern University, will present: “Intercellular signaling through soluble ectodomains at neuronal synapses: from basic biology to biomarkers and treatments”

📅 Oct. 17, 2025
🕑 11am-12pm
📍 M112 DeBakey

Welcome Dr. Nicole Provenza! 🎉

Dr. Provenza joins the Department of Neuroscience as a secondary faculty member, with her primary appointment as Assistant Professor in Neurosurgery.

We’re excited to have her on board and look forward to her contributions!

Join us Friday for our neuroscience seminar series!🧠

Dr. Paul Jenkins, from UMMS, will present: “Molecular convergence of High-Risk Autism-Associated Genes, ANK2 and SCN2A, in the Control of Dendritic Excitability”

📅 Sept. 26, 2025
🕑 11am-12pm
📍 N315 Alkek

Join us Friday for our neuroscience seminar series!🧠

Dr. Colleen McClung, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, will present: “Circadian Genes, Rhythms and the Biology of Psychiatric Disorders”

📅 Sept. 19, 2025
🕑 11am-12pm
📍 N315 Alkek

Join us Friday for our neuroscience seminar series!

Dr. Madeleine Oudin (TUFTS University) will present: “Development of Splice-Switching Antisense Oligonucleotides for the Treatment of Development Epileptic Encephalopathies”

📅 Sept. 12, 2025
🕑 11am-12pm
📍 N315 Alkek

Please join us this Friday for the start of our neuroscience seminar series! 🧠

Our first speaker, Dr. Laura DeNardo, from UCLA, will present:
“Neural Circuits Underlying Long Term Memory Across the Life Span”

📅 Date: Sept. 5, 2025
🕑 Time: 11am-12pm
📍 Location: N315

We are excited to kick off our 2025-2026 seminar series on Friday, September 5th! Join us for engaging talks and discussions with leading experts in the field. Look for weekly updates and announcements with everything you need to know about the upcoming seminars!🧠

We are pleased to announce a new Assistant Professor has joined the Neuroscience Research Institute, Dr. Xiangling Meng!

Dr. Meng will focus on enhancing our research as her skills and experience will be a valuable addition to the team. Welcome, Dr. Meng!🧠🔬📚

We’re proud to recognize Dr. Jeannie Chin for 10 years of outstanding service and dedication to the Department of Neuroscience. Her commitment and passion continue to inspire all of us.

Thank you, Dr. Chin, for everything you’ve done and continue to do!

Dr. Gao @yudonggao.bsky.social has received the 2024 Simons Foundation Pilot Award! 🥇 The Pilot award provides support for novel, high-risk projects within autism research.

Project title: Identifying functional convergence of autism risk genes in regulating sodium channel membrane trafficking.

Dr. Javier Medina has reached an incredible milestone! 10 years of dedication, innovation, and impact in the Department of Neuroscience!

We’re so grateful for his commitment to advancing neuroscience, as he is such a valued member of our team. Here's to many more milestones!

It’s been a season of successful thesis defenses for the department, and we’re so proud of all our new doctors! Last but not least, congratulations to Dr. Gabriel Escobedo from the lab of Dr. Matt Rasband on a successful defense - what an incredible achievement!🎉

A special thank you to Dr. Peter Saggau for returning to Baylor and delivering the final talk in our 2024-2025 #neuroscience seminar series! We’re grateful for your insights and continued connection to our community!

Join us Friday, June 27th (11am-12pm) in Auditorium N315, Alkek, for a special #neuroscience seminar featuring Peter Saggau, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.
Seminar Title: ‘Acousto-optic Techniques in Neurophotonics.’

Congratulations to Fish Kunxun Qian, grad student from the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Magee, on on a successful thesis defense! Your hard work, dedication, and passion for research have truly paid off. We’re proud to celebrate this incredible milestone with you! 🎉🎓

Another student defense has been completed! In early June, Peter Kim defended his thesis, showcasing his hard work and dedication to his research. Peter will continue working alongside his mentor, Dr. Joanna Jankowsky, at Washington University (WashU). Best of luck, Dr. Kim!

Our faculty members were honored at the BCM Faculty Awards Day. Dr. Matt Rasband received the Award for Excellence in Education, while Drs. Javier Medina and Francois St. Pierre were recognized for their new leadership positions. Thank you all for the incredible work you do! 🧠

Huge congratulations to @franciscoblanco.bsky.social (PhD) and Topher Cronkite (MD/PhD) for earning their degrees! Mentoring such outstanding students has been a true honor! Can't wait to see the amazing things they'll do next! @bcmneurosci.bsky.social @bcm-mstp.bsky.social #BCMGraduation

In April, Dr. Sameer Sheth visited the Krembil Research Institute in Toronto, where he presented "Network-Minded DBS for Depression."

#BCMNeurosurgery on the move ✈️

Earlier this year, Dr. Sameer Sheth visited the @kbi-uhn.bsky.social in Toronto, where he presented "Network-Minded DBS for Depression."

#ThrowbackThursday #DeepBrainStimulation #DBS #depression #NeuroX

Congratulations to Samantha Thompson, #neuroscience graduate student from the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Noebels. She has successfully defended her thesis to her mentors and colleagues. Wishing you all the best on your next journey, Dr. Thompson!

Join us Friday, May 30th (11am-12pm) in Auditorium N315, Alkek, for the weekly #neuroscience seminar series featuring Katrin Andreasson, M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine.
Seminar Title: ‘Fueling the Mind: Cellular Metabolism and Healthy Brain Aging.’

Congratulations to #neuroscience graduate student Gabriella Perez on successfully defending her thesis! Best of luck on your next chapter, Dr. Perez!

We know the brain is central to everything we think, feel, and do. This #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth, we're highlighting the importance of caring for the brain - not just as an organ, but as the foundation of mental well-being. #Neuroscience #BrainHealth 🧠

Join us Friday, May 16th (11am-12pm) in Auditorium N315, Alkek, for the weekly #neuroscience seminar series featuring Robin Haynes, Ph.D from Boston Children’s Hospital. Seminar Title: ‘Towards an Understanding of SIDS Pathogenesis: New Insights on SIDS in the Premature Infant.’