{"news":[{"datePosted":"2021-10-13","description":"Here is an interview I did for neuronhub: https://www.neuronhub.org/From-neural-wiring-to-behavior,\nque también está disponible en español: https://www.neuronhub.org/Del-cableado-neuronal-al-comportamiento!","newsTitle":"An Interview"},{"datePosted":"2021-01-01","description":"Not blind scientism, but you know science is saving the world right now, so maybe some acknowledgement of the magnitude of this feat?\nHow many people can say they are saving billions of lives?\n\nThank you to everyone that is working on a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The fate of the world is resting in your hands!\n\n","newsTitle":"Thank you to everyone working on a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine"},{"datePosted":"2019-09-01","description":"Our prototype box is done! But what does it do...?\n","newsTitle":"Our Box is done!"},{"datePosted":"2018-07-22","description":"I am thrilled to announce the launch of a new feature on GeneDig: Automated Molecular Biology! Our algorithm will do all of the thinking for you…\n\nIn your GeneDig User Account, select any DNA file(s) and click on the Molecular Assembly icon.\n\nThen edit the DNA sequence to your desired end product. Our algorithm will display all of the possible experimental protocols that will produce your final product, including which primers and reagents to order. You can sort the protocols based on time, cost, and ease.\n\nThen just pick a protocol and follow the instructions.\n\nTry it out and let me know what you think!","newsTitle":"New feature on GeneDig: Automated Molecular Biology!"},{"datePosted":"2016-05-05","description":"Kudos to my two trainees Chiu-An Lo and Ibrahim Kays, who were awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Brain Star award for 2016!\n\nA well-deserved $1500 for them, they worked super hard on this project over the years. Their science game is strong.\n\nWith Vedrana Cvetkovska winning in 2013, I now have a 100% hit rate for my grad students winning this CIHR award.","imagePath":"","newsTitle":"CONGRATS TO MY STUDENTS!"},{"datePosted":"2014-08-02","description":"Here's our new GeneDig video, called GeneDig: Democratizing access to genomics from GeneDig.\n\n","newsTitle":"GENEDIG VIDEO"},{"datePosted":"2014-02-14","description":"Here is a clip of me describing some of the work that we do in the lab:\n\n\n\nBelow is a video made by SimpliSci.org describing one of our papers:\n\n\n\n","newsTitle":"Videos"},{"datePosted":"2013-11-27","description":"

Class lectures.  I like giving them, but every year I know students don’t learn the material very well.  All professors know this, hundreds of years of history have shown this, and “[a] huge body of evidence2 suggests that [other] approaches are much more effective than lecture-and-drill-based techniques” (Waldrop, 2013, Nature).

I do not think I have a monopoly on hidden, specific knowledge that only by going to my class will you be able to learn it.  I do not think I am the best lecturer in the world and I absolutely believe there are other people out there that can lecture better than I can.  Knowledge is getting more and more accessible and cheaper and cheaper.  With all of the world’s information at our fingertips in the form of online articles, books, audio, video, and forums, students now have the option of learning anything they want, very easily.  So what are they paying money for, for their college education?  Let’s look 20 years into the future where all lectures on all topics are freely available, delivered by the best orators, in high definition video and audio, along with the rest of the online resources available to look up any information; what’s the point of going to class?  Of paying thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars for an education?  Here’s what I think students should be paying for:

1. The college experience (i.e., extending their education and broadening their horizons).

2. To lead a more examined life (i.e., learning how to think critically).

3. Access to their like-minded peers.

4. Access to professors.

5. Access to research.

6. The diploma.

The individual student knows best what type of learning they prefer for specific subjects.  Visual?  Hands-On?  Auditory?  Books?  Nowadays we can accommodate almost anything, so that you don't “drop 150 grand on a … education you coulda gotten for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!”

Again, I believe students should be paying for access to their peers and their professors.  Certainly, upper level discussion classes are awesome, but for broad lectures with more than 20 students?  The progression of technology to enhance education seems to be: books -> audio -> video -> artificial intelligence.  That is why, I now always upload videos of all of my lectures with the lecture slides freely available beforehand for my students.  Class time can then be used for group discussions of the material that the students have (hopefully) already prepared for.  Prefer reading?  Read the recommended readings in the handouts.  Prefer audio or visual?  Watch or listen to the videos. (Please watch my videos at 2X speed, I'm painfully too slow at 1X speed...)  Prefer discussions?  Come to class and discover the material with peers, and interact with me.  Now students can really ask themselves “What am I paying for?”, and they can take more control over their education.  In 20 years from now, all classes and lectures will be available, guaranteed.  So why would anyone ever take my class?  Why would anyone ever take any class?  Why would anyone ever pay any money for an education?

There should never be a monopoly on knowledge (shout out to GeneDig!!); what you should pay money for are things pure knowledge can’t provide.

","newsTitle":"Get the most out of your money for your university education"},{"datePosted":"2013-10-30","description":"

I was curious about trinucleotide repeat disorders like Huntington’s disease and where the trinucleotide repeats occurred in the Huntingtin RNA, near beginning, middle, or end of the RNA?  I first tried looking up the huntingtin gene (HTT) in NCBI and then realized this was going to take a while—and wouldn’t be reasonable for the rest of the trinucleotide repeat disorders I was also curious about.  Then I realized that even the normal HTT gene should have a few trinucleotide repeats, so I looked up HTT using GeneDig and found the CAGCAGCAG repeats immediately.

I then repeated this for the other trinucleotide repeat disorders and even found whether the repeats were in the Untranslated Region of the RNA or not.  Sweet.  GeneDig.

","newsTitle":"THANKS GENEDIG"},{"datePosted":"2010-07-12","description":"

It’s exciting being a new investigator.

Here is a proposal I have for other new investigators:

As a new principal investigator (PI) I encourage other new PIs to hire underprivileged youths from high school as lab assistants into their new lab.

Typically when you are a new investigator:

You are going to spend most of your time opening boxes and setting up and organizing your new lab.
You are going to spend every second in the lab, obsessing over your lab.
You are young and have less personal obligations at this point in your life.
You know you’re going to spend a lot of time mentoring your first hire anyways.
You do a lot of menial tasks, but you want them done right, your way.

So, give a kid a chance to earn it.

Hire a kid from an underprivileged background in science FTW:

Compared to a normal tech (not a super expensive one that many new PIs with a ton of startup want to get):

  1. 1. They are cheaper – Win for you
  2. 2. They are very eager – Win for you
  3. 3. They are willing to work hard and “earn it” – Win for you
  4. 4. You get a technician that you personally trained from the ground up – Win for you
  5. 5. They get a full-time job; fulfills any financial needs that may be holding the student back – Win for them
  6. 6. They get a highly trained Professor devoting his/her full attention to training and mentoring them – Ridiculous win for them
  7. 7. They get rewarding employment at a University setting simultaneously educating themselves and generating valuable real world skills – Win for them
  8. 8. They get first-hand experience in research, unequivocally the best teaching tool to learn science – Win for them
  9. 9. They will get a reference letter from you eventually, probably opening many more doors than would have previously been available before you met them – Win for them
  10. 10. You set a good example – Win for everybody
  11. 11. Science communication is a skill that you need to work on – Win for you, Win for science
  12. 12. Give back to your community, teach a local from the general public – Win for everybody
  13. 13. You are giving them a chance they normally wouldn’t have – Win for them

One thing to be clear about though, you have to be very confident that you can pick good people and you should have (reasonably) high standards, and not be afraid to interview a lot of people.

I’ve done it, and it’s definitely a win-win for everybody, and it’s a lot of fun and exciting starting a new lab with someone equally excited.

It’s very rewarding and if you do your job right, trust me, you will create an ambassador to science, especially if you can target those in rural, economically disadvantaged, and aboriginal communities.

Full disclosure: I was a high school dropout, no GED.  Pay it forward.

","newsTitle":"A PROPOSAL FOR NEW INVESTIGATORS"}],"opportunities":[{"description":"

Please inquire directly.

","title":"Postdoctoral Fellows"},{"description":"

No positions available at this time.

","title":"Graduate Students"},{"description":"

No positions available at this time.

","title":"Undergraduate Students"},{"description":"

I am looking to hire 2 software engineers or bioinformaticians to help with GeneDig.

I am also looking to hire Research Technicians.

If you are interested, please inquire directly.

","title":"Technical Positions"}],"people":[{"currentPosition":"Associate Professor","degrees":"","email":"brian.chen@mcgill.ca","firstName":"Brian","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FBrian_Chen.png__rmu91vu3tuc?alt=media&token=5c582414-2ad2-406e-b46f-abbae42d4f45","lastName":"Chen","personType":"faculty","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Student at Harvard University Neuroscience Graduate Program","degrees":"BSc (Neuroscience), McGill University, 2010","email":"shay.neufeld@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Shay","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FShay_Neufeld.png__0xe9u0q0q1ho?alt=media&token=7e3e1274-adef-4552-876b-b24673e8b350","lastName":"Neufeld","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Veeva Systems","degrees":"BSc (Biology), McGill University, 2010","email":"alexa.hibbert@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Alexa","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FAlexa_Hibbert.png__vgxwmhcjt7a?alt=media&token=02f5b7d8-ed31-468a-b9af-a5a3aec2a0ad","lastName":"Hibbert","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Université de Montréal, le programme de doctorat en médecine","degrees":"BSc (Anatomy & Cell Biology), McGill University, 2013","email":"victoria.stoudenikina@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Victoria","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FVictoria_Stoudenikina.png__h7v7h23al0w?alt=media&token=f6c7230e-c743-423b-8b3b-0f6884cb56fc","lastName":"Stoudenikina","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"The Scripps Research Institute PhD Program","degrees":"BSc (Chemistry), McGill University, 2012","email":"mihai.suciu@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Radu","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FRadu_Suciu.png__kqngf4wdurd?alt=media&token=832016d3-76ab-42d7-9623-a0c11962cf18","lastName":"Suciu","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"The University of British Columbia Post-Doctoral Fellow","degrees":"PhD (Neuroscience), McGill University, 2014","email":"vedrana.cvetkovska@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Vedrana","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FVedrana_Cvetkovska.png__muzqgh1dhx?alt=media&token=0ea1e962-6a99-4a73-a2bf-9a4a1bfd1a6b","lastName":"Cvetkovska","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Harvard University Neuroscience Graduate Program","degrees":"BSc (Neuroscience), McGill University, 2015","email":"greben@g.harvard.edu","firstName":"Alexander","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2Fplaceholder.png__3mxr531aflc?alt=media&token=a2960814-2d72-44b8-95fe-2ef04ec76342","lastName":"Greben","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"The Rockefeller University Graduate Program","degrees":"BSc (Neuroscience), McGill University, 2016","email":"p.mussellspires@gmail.com","firstName":"Peter Mussells","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2Fplaceholder.png__9oymlog9dbs?alt=media&token=816c9116-0a9e-4e81-80ec-3535088005c7","lastName":"Pires","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Western University Medical School","degrees":"BSc (Anatomy & Cell Biology), McGill University, 2017","email":"denisa.rusu@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Denisa","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2Fplaceholder.png__0hvlqolt061l?alt=media&token=de61942a-925f-41f3-8c3a-cf6f6e37adaf","lastName":"Rusu","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Post-Doctoral Fellow","degrees":"PhD (Neuroscience), McGill University;BSc (Biological Science and Technology), National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan","email":"chiu-an.lo@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Chiu-An","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FChiu-An_Lo.png__74r0wq1wdaf?alt=media&token=c92e48d8-82ae-463f-8dfd-9738c07ded52","lastName":"Lo","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"The Rockefeller University Graduate Program","degrees":"BSc (Neuroscience), McGill University, 2018","email":"andrea.terceros@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Andrea","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2Fplaceholder.png__k6b7ish4bl?alt=media&token=7513b040-ebb2-4414-83ce-b490e582c106","lastName":"Terceros","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Post-Doctoral Fellow","degrees":"PhD (Biochemical Sciences) National Autonomous University of Mexico","email":"alyeri.buciomendez@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Alyeri","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FAlyeri%20webpage.jpg__rdjy83ymejl?alt=media&token=c60ce288-dd04-4745-b0e0-75f6664f7ff4","lastName":"Bucio Méndez","personType":"faculty","researchAreaOfFocus":"Re-wiring a Hard-wired Neural Circuit"},{"currentPosition":"Post-Doctoral Fellow","degrees":"PhD (Neuroscience), McGill University, MB BS (Medicine), Medical School, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza","email":"junia.santos@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Júnia","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FJunia_Santos.png__txhhbtzb1oe?alt=media&token=92a707f2-990d-441e-af43-82876d90e13c","lastName":"Vieira dos Santos","personType":"faculty","researchAreaOfFocus":"The Molecular Identity of Specific Mechanosensory Neurons"},{"currentPosition":"PhD Student","degrees":"BSc (Biochemistry), McGill University","email":"yin.yu2@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Renee","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FRenee_Yu.png__6z2b577yff?alt=media&token=be902efd-fd5d-4ff3-a4d9-49ff35acb8d0","lastName":"Yin Yu","personType":"faculty","researchAreaOfFocus":"Identifying Molecules Sufficient to Re-wire a Hard-wired Neural Circuit"},{"currentPosition":"Research Associate","degrees":"PhD (Pharmacology), Stony Brook University","email":"farida.emran@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Farida","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FFarida%20webpage.jpg__8i4pkt8wdul?alt=media&token=c6d16ff5-3de4-4188-8bbf-e9c98b99a4a8","lastName":"Emran","personType":"faculty","researchAreaOfFocus":"Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Targeting"},{"currentPosition":"McGill University Graduate Program","degrees":"BSc (Anatomy & Cell Biology), McGill University, 2019","email":"karina.paliotti@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Karina","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2Fplaceholder.png__ryf9mz2uay?alt=media&token=8705701c-a4c7-46b6-a57a-98c49856424f","lastName":"Paliotti","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Université de Montréal Graduate Program","degrees":"BSc (Anatomy & Cell Biology), McGill University, 2019","email":"sierra.persaud@mail.mcgill.ca","firstName":"Sierra","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2Fplaceholder.png__vuq3zhcefg?alt=media&token=f028c25b-4f59-42eb-a3bf-4cd5c4863080","lastName":"Persaud","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""},{"currentPosition":"Co-Founder at Geneboost, Inc.","degrees":"PhD (Neuroscience), McGill University, 2017","email":"ibrahimkaiss@gmail.com","firstName":"Ibrahim","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/people%2Ffaculty%2FIbrahim_Kays.png__zdtlvmxl8qc?alt=media&token=15f33870-d86e-4bf5-81e5-b27eb1516f98","lastName":"Kays","personType":"alumni","researchAreaOfFocus":""}],"publications":[{"body":"

Vieira sos Santos, J., Yu, R.Y., Terceros, A., Chen, B.E.  2019.  FGF receptors are required for proper axonal branch targeting in Drosophila.  Molecular Brain 12: 84.  Abstract

","imageUrl":"","link":"https://molecularbrain.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13041-019-0503-y"},{"body":"

Lo, C.A., Chen, B.E.  2019.  Parental Allele-Specific Protein Expression in Single Cells In Vivo.  Developmental Biology  454: 66-73.  Abstract

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2FChen%26Lo%202019%20final%20cover%20small.gif__8prc4npt0i?alt=media&token=bd864610-bf6f-45af-b517-889bf9d3df6e","link":"https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0012160619302210?token=940E7C140DC11ACC0177881B061F6BE4E86787D2402740BF9423F772BEFF825F685BAAA131A7DCFC33E32A586D64B54D"},{"body":"

Kays, I., Chen, B.E.  2019.  Protein and RNA Quantification of Multiple Genes in Single Cells.  BioTechniques  66: 15–21.  Abstract

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F11.jpg__dp24324h7hb?alt=media&token=a23e6778-d386-446d-8208-c5b2209ff8d9","link":"https://www.future-science.com/doi/pdf/10.2144/btn-2018-0130"},{"body":"

Lo, C.A., Greben, A.W., Chen, B. E.  2017.  Generating stable cell lines with quantifiable protein production using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in. BioTechniques 62: 165-174.  Abstract

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F10.jpg__eue4ga5xj2a?alt=media&token=816e11b4-6646-4532-aab4-20c2ebe62c7c","link":"https://www.future-science.com/doi/pdf/10.2144/000114534"},{"body":"

Lo, C.*, Kays, I.*, Emran, F., Lin, T., Cvetkovska, V., Chen, B. E. 2015. Quantification of Protein Levels in Single Living Cells. Cell Reports 13: 2634-2644.  Abstract

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F09.jpg__sj43vviadi9?alt=media&token=2e617b02-9e06-4eed-bc35-c4b929d4be2f","link":"http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/pdf/S2211-1247(15)01363-7.pdf"},{"body":"

Chen, B. E. 2015. DSCAM, Mother of Innovations. Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences 43: 1-4.  Abstract  
This paper is basically my manifesto, and a paean to Canadian neuroscience. I was asked to write a commentary on what it is like to be a new investigator in Canada, after winning the 2014 Canadian Association for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award, and so I obliged.

","imageUrl":"","link":"https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/22831E24F36F90DDD9AFE5EC3E967AD4/S0317167115002358a.pdf/down-syndrome-cell-adhesion-molecule-mother-of-innovations.pdf"},{"body":"

Suciu, R. M., Aydin, E., Chen, B. E. 2015. GeneDig: a web application for accessing genomic and bioinformatics knowledge. BMC Bioinformatics 16: 67.  Abstract
 

\"Highly
","imageUrl":"","link":"http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/s12859-015-0497-0.pdf"},{"body":"

Kays, I.*, Cvetkovska, V.*, Chen, B. E. 2014. Structural and functional analysis of single neurons to correlate synaptic connectivity with grooming behavior. Nature Protocols 9: 1-10.  Abstract
Our protocol was featured on the cover of the January 2014 issue of Nature Protocols.

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F08.jpg__oni8lsyi9d?alt=media&token=c02f2003-5124-40bd-9365-8e3c7ecbcf40","link":"https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Do37HfZeIwo1w1Wque8h_O8ZffE7krBo"},{"body":"

Cvetkovska, V.*, Hibbert, A. D.*, Emran, F., Chen, B. E. 2013. Overexpression of Down Syndrome Cell Adhesion Molecule impairs precise synaptic targeting. Nature Neuroscience 16: 677-682.  Abstract
This paper was highlighted by Nature Reviews Neuroscience in a Research Highlight (2013, 14: 458–459), a YouTube video produced by SimpliSci, and has earned a Faculty of 1000 Factor of 2.0.

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F07.jpg__n2mh20994qj?alt=media&token=9d8cf561-23d2-447c-9466-c719c2bd34ea","link":"https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KKHeMo2RuKBopfUt9hTRwNfmMbY6guqv"},{"body":"

Neufeld, S. Q., Hibbert, A. D., Chen, B. E.  2011. Opposing roles of PlexinA and PlexinB in axonal branch and varicosity formation. Molecular Brain 4: 15-26.  Abstract

","link":"http://www.molecularbrain.com/content/pdf/1756-6606-4-15.pdf"},{"body":"

Schmucker, D, Chen, B. 2009. Dscam and DSCAM: Complex genes in simple animals, complex animals yet simple genes. Genes & Development 23: 147-156.  Abstract

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F06mini.jpg__zh9bwdyv5?alt=media&token=f1b86f25-e491-43c7-b968-1b40a4eba5ad","link":"https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MaKp69MDsLhDGSNMHGQLK3wGWOYdgJ99"},{"body":"

Chen, B. E.* , Kondo, M.*, Garnier, A., Watson, F.L., Püttmann-Holgado, R., Lamar, D.R., Schmucker, D. 2006. The molecular diversity of Dscam is functionally required for neuronal wiring specificity in Drosophila. Cell 125: 607-620.  Abstract
This paper was highlighted by Cell in a Preview by Bharadwaj and Kolodkin (2006, 125: 421-424), and has earned a Faculty of 1000 Factor of 6.5 Must Read.

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F05mini.jpg__suclb2e79s?alt=media&token=99c65233-7146-48de-a119-fbd60d05ced0","link":"https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Cb5W8D-_7fEblcaUx2hJuSQ6P_h9jw-A"},{"body":"

Chen, B. E. , Trachtenberg, J. T., Holtmaat, A. J., Svoboda, K. Long-term, high-resolution imaging in the neocortex in vivo. 2004. In Live Cell Imaging: A Laboratory Manual. (ed. Goldman R., Spector, D.) Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F04mini.jpg__bm2jbcs67q6?alt=media&token=0f8b75bc-15b0-4e06-be49-097d8e566fb0"},{"body":"

Trachtenberg, J. T.*, Chen, B. E.*, Knott, G. W., Feng, G., Sanes, J. R., Welker, E., Svoboda, K. 2002. Long-term in vivo imaging of experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in adult cortex. Nature 420: 788-794.  Abstract
This paper was highlighted by Nature in a News and Views by Ottersen and Helm (2002, 420: 751-752), and also earned a Faculty of 1000 Factor of 8.0 Exceptional.

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F03mini.jpg__325nn4g1p6j?alt=media&token=02c9975f-fd34-4979-8fa5-1ca0820b8ae1","link":"https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XWJfZBdjoguLQoRop90bzefh2IfU1git"},{"body":"

Chen, B. E. , Lendvai, B., Nimchinsky, E. A., Burbach, B., Fox, K., Svoboda, K. 2000. Imaging high-resolution structure of GFP-expressing neurons in neocortex in vivo. Learn. Mem. 7: 433-41.  Abstract

","imageUrl":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/bclab-news-34abb.appspot.com/o/publications%2F02mini.jpg__xu1oyy7gqln?alt=media&token=1d7fbac2-87d6-4a20-8735-b6c91f25e751","link":"https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jhqrFkRnkC1By1IGxLfWv_LKps6-Y_0c"},{"body":"

Lendvai, B., Stern, E. A., Chen, B., Svoboda, K. 2000. Experience-dependent plasticity of dendritic spines in the developing rat barrel cortex in vivo. Nature 404: 876-881.  Abstract
This paper was highlighted by Nature in a News and Views by Kevin Fox (2000, 404: 825-827).

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I am interested in how to build a brain. Fortunately, the instructions on building a brain are written molecularly in the genome, and so my research focuses on deciphering these instructions by uncovering the different molecules and strategies that neurons in the brain use to connect with each other. This will then help us understand how these wiring instructions can go awry in abnormal brain development.

One of the central puzzles in neuroscience is how a neuron chooses the correct synaptic contacts during development when faced with tens of thousands of potential targets. My previous research interests have centered on how the experience of an animal can refine neural circuits, and more recently I have investigated how hard-wired neural circuits underlying innate behaviors wire up.

To uncover the different molecules and strategies underlying the wiring instructions neurons use to self-assemble into a neural circuit, my lab combines high-resolution imaging techniques with advanced molecular genetics in different model systems to look inside living animals while their neurons form synapses. My research uses the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to identify underlying genetic mechanisms of neural wiring, and we apply these findings to the mouse neocortex to investigate the common molecular rules that might be used to wire up the human brain.

 

My lab currently investigates 3 main topics:

1) My Magnum Opus: What is the comprehensive list of molecules that are necessary and sufficient to completely wire up a neuron's hard-wired synaptic connectivity?

2) Measuring protein synthesis in real time in single cells in vivo: We have recently developed a technique to quantitate (exogenous and endogenous) protein levels in single cells in vivo. We are now expanding this technique to track when, where, and how much a protein is produced instantaneously in a single cell in the living animal.

3) Democratizing access to genomics: The world of genomics can be intimidating to enter because of the large amounts of complex biological information involved. I created GeneDig.org to lower the barrier of entry into genomics by allowing easy and efficient access to this information. I believe that access to genomic information is important, and my goal is to make all genomic information easily accessible and useful.

Try it out: GeneDig.org

Join my lab and change the world.

","title":"How to build a brain"}}