NIH Director’s Lecture

Neurobiology of Social Behavior Circuits

Social interactions are essential for animals to survive, reproduce, raise their young. Over the years, my lab has attempted to decipher the unique characteristics of social recognition: what are the unique cues that trigger distinct social behaviors, what is the nature and identity of social behavior circuits, how is the function of these circuits different in males and females and how are they modulated by the animal physiological status?

Towards a Deeper and More Human-centric Medicine

My research is on individualized medicine, using the genome and digital technologies to understand each person at the biologic, physiologic granular level to determine appropriate therapies and prevention. An example is the use of pharmacogenomics and our research on clopidogrel (Plavix). By determining the reasons for why such a large proportion of people do not respond to this medication, we can use alternative treatment strategies to prevent blood clots.

On the Design of Bionic Limbs: The Science of Tissue-Synthetic Interface

Professor Herr's research program seeks to advance technologies that promise to accelerate the merging of body and machine, including device architectures that resemble the body’s musculoskeletal design, actuator technologies that behave like muscle, and control methodologies that exploit principles of biological movement. His methods encompass a diverse set of scientific and technological disciplines, from the science of biomechanics and biological movement control to the design of biomedical devices for the treatment of human physical disability.

Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Cancer Therapy:  Historical Perspective, New Opportunities, and Prospects for Cures

Deciphering cancer genomes and networks

Brain Machine Interfaces: from Basic Science to Neuroprostheses and Neurological Recovery

“In this talk, I will describe how state-of-the-art research on brain–machine interfaces makes it possible for the brains of primates to interact directly and in a bi-directional way with mechanical, computational and virtual devices without any interference of the body’s muscles or sensory organs. I will review a series of recent experiments using real-time computational models to investigate how ensembles of neurons encode motor information.

Autoantigens and autoimmunity: a bedside to bench and back again story

Noncoding RNAs play critical roles in the metabolism of all cells. The Wolin laboratory studies how noncoding RNAs function, how cells recognize and degrade defective noncoding RNAs, and how failure to degrade these RNAs affects cell function and contributes to human disease. Their studies revealed new mechanisms by which defective RNAs are targeted for degradation and new classes of noncoding RNAs. Most recently, their work has contributed to a novel theory for how the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus may be triggered in genetically susceptible individuals.

Cancer and aging: rival demons?

Cancer and aging are intricately intertwined. Organisms with dividing cells are at substantial risk for developing cancer. Evolution "solved" the cancer problem by selecting for tumor-suppressive mechanisms, which protect these organisms from cancer—at least for the reproductively active portion of the life span. Beyond that portion of the life span, these mechanisms can drive pathologies associated with aging, including, ironically, cancer. For her lecture, Dr.

Endoplasmic reticulum and immunometabolic homeostasis

The major interest of Dr. Hotamisligil's laboratory is to study the regulatory pathways, which control glucose and lipid metabolism. His lab's biochemical and genetic studies focus on signal transduction using cultured mammalian cells as well as transgenic animals to identify specific abnormalities in these pathways, which are involved in human metabolic and inflammatory diseases including obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease, atherosclerosis, and asthma.

Exploring adult brain plasticity following adverse developmental conditions

Our laboratory studies structural plasticity in the adult mammalian brain. We are interested in identifying the environmental, hormonal and neural stimuli that drive changes in the number, shape and size of neurons, astrocytes and microglia. The ultimate goals of our work are to determine the functional consequences of structural plasticity and to identify factors that enhance plasticity and cell survival in the adult mammalian brain.