Brain Health

On January 9, ӳý was honored to host renowned neurobiologist .

Barres, Chairman of Neurobiology and Professor of Neurobiology, Developmental Biology, Neurology, and Ophthalmology at Stanford, visited ӳý as a guest of the Stanley Center and gave a seminar entitled “What do reactive astrocytes do?” to a packed auditorium. His research has made important contributions to the role of microglia and astrocytes in the biology of the brain, in particular their role in synaptic pruning.

You can watch his talk .

Susanna M. Hamilton, ӳý Communications

The study of structural variation — large-scale changes in DNA that can, in some cases, refashion entire chromosomes — in the genomic era has lagged behind that of sequence variation. But there’s a growing appreciation of how important structural variants are to human biology and disease. What makes these variants more challenging to study, and what is being done to overcome those challenges?

Over the last few years, genetic datasets for psychiatric disorders have grown and many have merged, thanks in large part to the collaborative efforts of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at ӳý, their partners at the , and the tens of thousands of donors who have contributed biological samples with the hope of helping to combat these debilitating disorders.