Neural Development and Neural Repair

Thomas Biederer received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Thomas Biederer then pursued postdoctoral training with Dr. Thomas Südhof at the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas to investigate mechanisms of synapse formation. He started his research group in 2003 as faculty member at Yale University, was 2013-2019 at Tufts University, and joined the Yale faculty again in 2019. Dr. Biederer’s multidisciplinary research is motivated by his deep-seated interest in the biology of synapses, the cellular structures that connect neurons into networks. His long-term goals are to define how synapses develop, understand their roles in cognition, and investigate the profound disease relevance of synaptic aberrations. Progress from his group is providing insights into trans-synaptic complexes and how they dynamically organize synapse formation and maturation in vitro and in vivo. Attaining these goals is of importance to human health as altered synapse formation and stability underlie devastating brain disorders, including those that are neurodevelopmental diseases and related to drugs of abuse.

Dr. Hilary Patricia Blumberg is the John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Professor of Psychiatry, Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and in the Child Center, and Director of the Mood Disorders Research Program, at the Yale School of Medicine. She graduated summa cum laude in neuroscience from Harvard University and completed her medical degree, psychiatry training and specialty training in brain scanning research at Cornell University Medical College. Dr. Blumberg’s research is devoted to understanding the brain circuitry differences that underlie mood disorders across the lifespan, with a focus on bipolar disorder and on suicide prevention. She directs the Mood Disorders Research Program at Yale that brings together a multi-disciplinary group of scientists to study the genetic, developmental and environmental factors that cause mood disorders to develop new methods for early detection, more effective interventions, and prevention of the disorders and their associated high risk for suicide. This research includes the use of new state-of-the-art brain scanning methods. The program is also known for training young scientists to be new leaders in the field. Dr. Blumberg has served as principal investigator on awards from the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Department of Veterans Affairs, BD2, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, International Bipolar Disorder Foundation, For the Love of Travis Foundation, MQ Foundation, Stanley Medical Research Institute and Women’s Health Research at Yale. She has received numerous awards including the 2021 International Society of Bipolar Disorders Mogens Schou Award for Research in Bipolar Disorder, 2021 Sethi Award, 2018 American Psychiatric Association Blanche F. Ittleson Award for outstanding and published research in child and adolescent psychiatry and 2017 Brain and Behavior Foundation Colvin Prize for Research Achievement in Mood Disorders. She is a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and a member of the Society of Biological Psychiatry.

Dr. Angélique Bordey holds the rank of Professor of Neurosurgery, and Cellular & Molecular Physiology. Dr. Bordey is an active participant in teaching and training of graduate and medical students at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Bordey is an  Editor for several journals and on the advisory board of CURE epilepsy and the TSC Alliance preclinical consortium. She has served as a permanent member on several grant review committees and NIH study sections. Finally, she is a McKnight awardee and holds several federal and foundation grants as well as patents for the treatment of epilepsy.

Kristen Brennand, PhD is the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics at Yale University School of Medicine. She first established her independent laboratory in the Pamela Sklar Division of Psychiatric Genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2012, after having completed post-doctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and PhD studies at Harvard University. Dr. Brennand’s research combines expertise in genomic engineering, neuroscience, and stem cells, to identify the mechanisms that underlie brain disease. Her focus lies in resolving the convergence of, and complex interplay between, the many risk variants linked to disease, towards the goal of facilitating the clinical translation of genetic findings.  Dr. Brennand’s work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Brain Research Foundation, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

Rui Chang received his B.S. in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology from Tsinghua University, China in 2005. He then studied sensory transduction with Emily Liman and earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Southern California in 2011. He completed his postdoctoral training with Stephen Liberles at Harvard Medical School, where he investigated how body sensory cues are monitored by the brain through the vagus nerve, and how these internal signals regulate whole body physiology. He joined both the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale University School of Medicine in January 2018.The Chang lab uses state-of-the-art molecular, genetic, and imaging approaches including single-cell gene expression profiling, virus-based anatomical mapping, in vivo imaging, optogenetics, and chemogenetics to reveal the physiological functions of diverse organ-to-brain circuits. The goal is to better understand the important body-brain interface, and to develop novel neuronal-based therapeutic strategies for disease intervention.

Dr. Che joined the faculty of Yale Department of Psychiatry in 2021, after completing her postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Natalia De Marco García at Weill Cornell Medical College and Dr. Gord Fishell at NYU. She earned a Ph.D. in Physiology and Neurobiology in the laboratory of Dr. Joseph LoTurco at the University of Connecticut in 2014. She received a B.S. triple-majoring in Biology, Physics and Physical Chemistry at Pacific Lutheran University in Washington state in 2009.

Dr. Youngsun T. Cho is an Assistant Professor in the Child Study Center and Department of Psychiatry at Yale University. She is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist. She holds an MD/PhD degree from the University of Rochester, and completed dissertation work on amygdala neuroanatomy and reward processing using fMRI. She completed psychiatry residency in the Neuroscience Research Training Program (NRTP) at Yale, and a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center. Her current research focuses on the development of cognitive and motivational brain circuits in adolescents with depression and adolescents with schizophrenia using fMRI, and pharmacologic neuroimaging to identify mechanisms of potential treatments. Her work is funded by the NIMH, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

Daniel Colón-Ramos was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He completed his B.A. at Harvard University, his PhD in the lab of Dr. Sally Kornbluth at Duke University and was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Kang Shen at Stanford University. The Colón-Ramos lab is interested in how synapses are precisely assembled to build the neuronal architecture that underlies behavior. To address this, they developed tools in the thermotaxis circuit of C. elegans. Their system enables unbiased genetic screens to identify novel pathways that instruct synaptogenesis in vivo, and single-cell manipulation of these pathways to understand how they influence behavior. As mechanisms underlying synapse structure and function are conserved, the research program seeks to enhance our understanding of synaptic cell biology in higher organisms, which may be important for disease.

Emilia Favuzzi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Wu Tsai Institute at Yale University. She grew up in Italy and received a B.S. in Biology and a M.S. in Neurobiology from Sapienza University of Rome. She did her doctoral training at the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante (Spain) and the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King’s College London. Her graduate research focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of inhibitory circuit development and plasticity in the cerebral cortex. In her postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute, she focused on microglia-inhibitory synapse interactions during development and discovered that specialized microglia differentially engage with specific synapse types. Her past work opened a new avenue in understanding neuroimmune crosstalk by showing that neuroimmune interactions within the brain may be as specific as those between neurons. This novel conceptual framework is the foundation of the Favuzzi lab focused on the immune and glial mechanisms underlying brain wiring and function, with an emphasis on (1) interactions among neuronal and non-neuronal cells and (2) brain-body communication. Over the years, Emilia was awarded numerous prizes such as the Beddington Medal from the British Society for Developmental Biology, the Krieg Cortical Kudos Scholar Award from the Cajal Club, the Next Generation Leader by the Allen Institute, and the Gruber International Research Award.

Dr. Dylan Gee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Yale University. She received her B.A. in Psychological and Brain Studies from Dartmouth College and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from UCLA. Dr. Gee completed her clinical internship and a postdoctoral research fellowship at Weill Cornell Medical College. Her research focuses on child and adolescent brain development in the context of developmental psychopathology, with a particular focus on neurobiological mechanisms related to early adversity and risk for anxiety and stress-related disorders. Dr. Gee’s research has been funded by the NSF, NIMH, a NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, and a Jacobs Foundation Early Career Award.

Dr. Charles A. Greer is the Vice Chair for Research and holds the rank of Professor of Neuroscience. Dr. Greer also serves as Director of the Yale Interdepartmental Neuroscience Graduate Program. He has served as the President of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences, Chair of National Institutes of Health Study Sections and recently completed a term on the Advisory Council for the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders. He has organized several national and international conferences and is frequently an invited speaker. Dr. Greer is an Associate Editor of The Journal of Comparative Neurology and Journal of Neuroscience and a member of the editorial boards of Frontiers in Neurogenomics, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy and Frontiers in Neuorgenesis and the Faculty of 1000. Dr. Greer has been the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his research accomplishments.

Dr. Grutzendler obtained his MD from Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia, where he was born and raised. He completed a medical internship in Internal Medicine and a residency in Neurology at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Following that, he pursued a combined clinical and research fellowship in the Alzheimer Disease Research Center and the Department of Neurobiology at Washington University, with additional neurobiology research training at the Skirball Institute of New York University. Dr. Grutzendler's laboratory is dedicated to understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of normal brain function and neuropathology. They have a particular focus on elucidating mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, such as those found in Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, they aim to advance the understanding of cell-cell interactions through the utilization of intravital optical imaging techniques, enabling them to study the brain in real-time and observe dynamic processes at the cellular and molecular levels. Moreover, their laboratory is interested in developing therapeutics for brain disorders. Leveraging their expertise in brain imaging, they work with chemists to develop novel small molecules to target specific brain cell types for drug delivery and as imaging probes. In addition to the research endeavors, Dr. Grutzendler is actively involved in clinical activities focused on dementia and Alzheimer's patients. He works closely with individuals affected by these neurodegenerative disorders, providing comprehensive care and support.

Abha R. Gupta obtained her BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. She earned her MD and PhD (Neuroscience) degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed a residency in general pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and a clinical fellowship in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at CHOP and Yale School of Medicine. Her clinical and research interests are in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), especially regressive conditions such as childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD). She obtained postdoctoral research training in the genetic investigation of ASD. As a principal investigator, she is pursuing both the genetics and neurobiology (stem cell modeling) of ASD.

Marc did his doctoral work with Erik Jorgensen, studying genetics and synaptic transmission. In his postdoc with Mike Bastiani he pioneered the study of axon regeneration in C. elegans and discovered the DLK regeneration pathway. The Hammarlund lab studies neuronal degeneration, regeneration, and cell fate. We aim to discover fundamental mechanisms of neuronal cell biology.

Ellen J. Hoffman, M.D., Ph.D. was appointed as Assistant Professor in the Child Study Center in July 2015. Ellen is a child psychiatrist, psychiatric geneticist and neurobiologist, and a graduate of the Investigative Medicine PhD Program at Yale, who specializes in the functional analysis of genes in neurodevelopmental disorders. The Hoffman laboratory conducts translational research aimed at understanding the biological mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorders and discovering new pharmacological treatments. Ellen's research focuses on investigating the function of genes that are strongly associated with autism to determine how disruption of these genes alters brain development and the neural circuits underlying simple behaviors. The long-term goal of her research is to use this gene-based approach to identify relevant biological pathways and novel pharmacological treatments that target these pathways. Ellen also works clinically as a child psychiatrist and as an attending supervising Yale child psychiatry fellows.

Jonathon (Joe) Howard is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, a Professor of Physics, and a member of the Quantitative Biology Institute at Yale University. He is best known for his research on the mechanical properties of motor proteins and the cytoskeleton, and the development of techniques for observing, measuring and manipulating individual biological molecules. His group studies several cellular systems in which force and motion play key roles, including the motility of cilia, and the branching of developing neurons. Brought up in Australia, where he studied mathematics and neurobiology at the Australian National University, Professor Howard was a professor at the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle, a founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, before moving to Yale 2013 where he enjoys new research projects and teaching.

Karim Ibrahim is an Assistant Professor at the Yale Child Study Center. His translational neuroscience research focuses on brain networks associated with emotion regulation impairments in childhood-onset psychiatric disorders. Dr. Karim Ibrahim’s research is interdisciplinary and integrates multimodal imaging methods including functional and structural MRI, machine learning, and network neuroscience/connectomics approaches to identify biomarkers relevant to child psychopathology. His recent interests lie in using and developing tools predictive modeling/machine learning approaches that leverage large-scale neuroimaging datasets, including data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, for identifying robust brain-based biomarkers. Among other things in this area, his research also investigates dynamics of the human functional connectome and large-scale networks, how brain connectivity is altered in mental health disorders (such as a disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety disorders, and autism spectrum disorder) and the neural response to treatment in youths. As a licensed clinical child psychologist, he also has extensive experience in developmental psychopathology, including assessments and cognitive-behavioral interventions for autism spectrum disorder, mood, anxiety, and disruptive behavior. Karim completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center T32 research program in Translational Developmental Neuroscience and through an award from the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation multidisciplinary research training program.

I am physician scientist active both in basic research and clinical practice. My research interests are to 1) uncover the genetic and epigenetic bases of neurodevelopmental disorders or rare diseases with neurodevelopmental defects; 2) model genetic diseases using human patients derived cellular models and genetic mutant mice; 3) understand the circuit and molecular mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder; 4) develop novel molecular and epigenetic targeted therapies for genetic and epigenetic diseases. My clinical expertise is on clinical and biochemical genetics of rare and undiagnosed diseases in children and adult. I am Director of Yale NORD Center of Excellence and Principal Investigator of Yale Diagnostic Center of Excellence for Undiagnosed Diseases-NIH Undiagnosed Disease Network Phase III