Latest News from Vaccarino Lab

Through the genomic sands of time Archaic genomes provide insights into human brain evolution and disease

The results of the April 2023 round of awards for the Yale Child Study Center's Clinical and Research Faculty Development Fund were announced on May 3. This annual fund supports clinical and research faculty with a primary appointment at the YCSC. The purpose is to provide start-up funds to develop research, educational, and clinical efforts that will contribute to faculty growth and development.

In addition to the two new Yale Child Study Center community members announced last month, several others have joined since January, including Aidan Doyle, Bivas Nag, Sara Sanchez-Alonso, and Upasna Srivastava.

An absence of specialized neurons in the basal ganglia of the brain appears to be key to the presence and severity of Tourette syndrome and its associated tics, a Yale study found.

Scientists studying non-inherited, or somatic, mutations in frozen post-mortem human brains have found that about 6% of brains are much more likely to accumulate large numbers of these mutations and that these “hypermutable” brains tend to be 40 years old or older.

From mouse models, to pluripotent stem cell lines, to pioneering the construction and use of organoids, Flora Vaccarino has been at the forefront of brain research since joining the Yale School of Medicine faculty more than 25 years ago.