harvard university thesis database

HLS Dissertations, Theses, and JD Papers

S.j.d. dissertations, ll.m. papers, ll.m. theses, j.d. papers, submitting your paper to an online collection, other sources for student papers beyond harvard, getting help, introduction.

This is a guide to finding Harvard Law School (“HLS”) student-authored works held by the Library and in online collections. This guide covers HLS S.J.D Dissertations, LL.M. papers, J.D. third-year papers, seminar papers, and prize papers.

There have been changes in the HLS degree requirements for written work. The library’s collection practices and catalog descriptions for these works has varied. Please note that there are gaps in the library’s collection and for J.D. papers, few of these works are being collected any longer.

If we have an S.J.D. dissertation or LL.M. thesis, we have two copies. One is kept in the general collection and one in the Red Set, an archival collection of works authored by HLS affiliates. If we have a J.D. paper, we have only one copy, kept in the Red Set. Red Set copies are last resort copies available only by advance appointment in Historical and Special Collections .

Some papers have not been processed by library staff. If HOLLIS indicates a paper is “ordered-received” please use this form to have library processing completed.

The HLS Doctor of Juridical Science (“S.J.D.”) program began in 1910.  The library collection of these works is not comprehensive. Exceptions are usually due to scholars’ requests to withhold Library deposit. 

• HLS S.J.D. Dissertations in HOLLIS To refine these search results by topic or faculty advisor, or limit by date, click Add a New Line.
• Hein’s Legal Theses and Dissertations Microfiche Mic K556.H45x Drawers 947-949 This microfiche set includes legal theses and dissertations from HLS and other premier law schools. It currently includes about 300 HLS dissertations and theses.
• Hein's Legal Theses and Dissertations Contents List This content list is in order by school only, not by date, subject or author. It references microfiche numbers within the set housed in the Microforms room on the entry level of the library, drawers 947-949. The fiche are a different color for each institution.
• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses @ Harvard University (Harvard login) Copy this search syntax: dg(S.J.D.) You will find about 130 SJD Dissertations dated from 1972 to 2004. They are not available in full text.
• DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard Sponsored by Harvard University’s Office for Scholarly Communication, DASH is an open repository for research papers by members of the Harvard community. There are currently about 600 HLS student papers included. Unfortunately it is not possible to search by type of paper or degree awarded.

The Master of Laws (“LL.M.”) degree has been awarded since 1923. Originally, the degree required completion of a major research paper, akin to a thesis. Since 1993, most students have the option of writing the LL.M. "short paper."  This is a 25-page (or longer) paper advised by a faculty supervisor or completed in conjunction with a seminar.  Fewer LL.M. candidates continue to write the more extensive "long-paper." LL.M. candidates holding J.D.s from the U.S. must write the long paper.

• HLS Written Work Requirements for LL.M. Degree The current explanation of the LL.M. written work requirement for the master of laws.

The library generally holds HLS LL.M. long papers and short papers. In recent years, we require author release in order to do so. In HOLLIS, no distinction is made between types of written work created in satisfaction of the LL.M. degree; all are described as LL.M. thesis. Though we describe them as thesis, the law school refers to them solely as papers or in earlier years, essays. HOLLIS records indicate the number of pages, so at the record level, it is possible to distinguish long papers.

• HLS LL.M. Papers in HOLLIS To refine these search results by topic, faculty advisor, seminar or date, click Add a New Line.

HLS LL.M. Papers are sometimes available in DASH and Hein's Legal Dissertations and Theses. See descriptions above .

The HLS J.D. written work requirement has changed over time. The degree formerly required a substantial research paper comparable in scope to a law review article written under faculty supervision, the "third year paper." Since 2008, J.D. students have the option of using two shorter works instead.

Of all those written, the library holds relatively few third-year papers. They were not actively collected but accepted by submission from faculty advisors who deemed a paper worthy of institutional retention. The papers are described in HOLLIS as third year papers, seminar papers, and student papers. Sometimes this distinction was valid, but not always. The faculty deposit tradition more or less ended in 2006, though the possibility of deposit still exists. 

• J.D. Written Work Requirement
• Faculty Deposit of Student Papers with the Library

HLS Third Year Papers in HOLLIS

To refine these search results by topic, faculty advisor, seminar or date, click Add a New Line.

• HLS Student Papers Some third-year papers and LL.M. papers were described in HOLLIS simply as student papers. To refine these search results, click "Add a New Line" and add topic, faculty advisor, or course title.
• HLS Seminar Papers Note that these include legal research pathfinders produced for the Advanced Legal Research course when taught by Virginia Wise.

Prize Papers

HLS has many endowed prizes for student papers and essays. There are currently 16 different writing prizes. See this complete descriptive list with links to lists of winners from 2009 to present. Note that there is not always a winner each year for each award. Prize winners are announced each year in the commencement pamphlet.

The Library has not specifically collected prize papers over the years but has added copies when possible. The HOLLIS record for the paper will usually indicate its status as a prize paper. The most recent prize paper was added to the collection in 2006.

Addison Brown Prize Animal Law & Policy Program Writing Prize Victor Brudney Prize Davis Polk Legal Profession Paper Prize Roger Fisher and Frank E.A. Sander Prize Yong K. Kim ’95 Memorial Prize Islamic Legal Studies Program Prize on Islamic Law Laylin Prize LGBTQ Writing Prize Mancini Prize Irving Oberman Memorial Awards John M. Olin Prize in Law and Economics Project on the Foundations of Private Law Prize Sidney I. Roberts Prize Fund Klemens von Klemperer Prize Stephen L. Werner Prize

• Harvard Law School Prize Essays (1850-1868) A historical collection of handwritten prize essays covering the range of topics covered at that time. See this finding aid for a collection description.

The following information about online repositories is not a recommendation or endorsement to participate.

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses HLS is not an institutional participant to this collection. If you are interested in submitting your work, refer to these instructions and note that there is a fee required, which varies depending on the format of submission.
• EBSCO Open Dissertations Relatively new, this is an open repository of metadata for dissertations. It is an outgrowth of the index American Doctoral Dissertations. The aim is to cover 1933 to present and, for modern works, to link to full text available in institutional repositories. Harvard is not one of the institutional participants.
• DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard

Sponsored by Harvard University’s Office for Scholarly Communication, this is an open repository for research papers by members of the Harvard community. See more information about the project. 

Some HLS students have submitted their degree paper to DASH.  If you would like to submit your paper, you may use this authorization form  or contact June Casey , Librarian for Open Access Initiatives and Scholarly Communication at Harvard Law School.

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (Harvard Login) Covers dissertations and masters' theses from North American graduate schools and many worldwide. Provides full text for many since the 1990s and has descriptive data for older works.
• NDLTD Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations Union Catalog Worldwide in scope, NDLTD contains millions of records of electronic theses and dissertations from the early 1900s to the present.
• Law Commons of the Digital Commons Network The Law Commons has dissertations and theses, as well as many other types of scholarly research such as book chapters and conference proceedings. They aim to collect free, full-text scholarly work from hundreds of academic institutions worldwide.
• EBSCO Open Dissertations Doctoral dissertations from many institutions. Free, open repository.
• Dissertations from Center for Research Libraries Dissertations found in this resource are available to the Harvard University Community through Interlibrary Loan.
• British Library EThOS Dissertation source from the British Library listing doctoral theses awarded in the UK. Some available for immediate download and some others may be requested for scanning.
• BASE from Bielefeld University Library Index of the open repositoris of most academic institutions. Includes many types of documents including doctoral and masters theses.

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• Last Updated: Sep 12, 2023 10:46 AM
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Harvard University Library collects some, but not all, undergraduate theses. All of those that are retained by the library are listed in  HOLLIS .

What undergraduate theses are retained by the library, and where? Are they digitized?  

• The library retains in particular honors undergraduate theses and essays (e.g., Hoopes, Bowdoin Prize winners).
• Most are not digitized, although the Hoopes and Bowdoin from 2020 forward are digitized and available to read in HOLLIS (no download).
• All undergraduates are eligible to submit their theses to   DASH,  so it may be worth searching there.

How can I find print copies from before 2020?

• Copies of the most recent two years of Hoopes Prizewinners are kept near the New Books Shelf in Lamont for your perusal.
• Any undergrad theses or papers held by the library pre-2020 are kept in the Harvard University Archives.

Notes on searching  HOLLIS :

• The paper will come up as part of a collection, like "Hoopes Prize Papers 2011-12"
• If you know the exact title or author of a thesis, use the standard search box.
• If you are looking for all undergraduate honors theses from a particular department, use Advanced Search keyword (e.g.  classics ,  music ,  sociology ) and "honors thesis Harvard."
• Add a year date to your keywords if you are looking for theses from a particular year.

More information:

For a list of prize winners by year, including Hoopes Prize winners, see here . 

For more on access to Hoopes Prize winners, see Harvard University Archives' "How do I find a Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize Paper?"

For more on access to Bowdoin Prize winners, see HUA's " How do I find copies of Bowdoin Prize essays from past years? 

For Harvard graduate theses and Bowdoin Prize papers, see How can I find a Harvard thesis or dissertation?

For theses & dissertations beyond Harvard, see How can I find theses and dissertations ? 

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Undergraduate Neuroscience Research and Thesis

Research and thesis.

Click to open

Step 1 :  Read over our advice on picking a great lab/mentor

• Guide to Choosing a Research Lab
• Another well-known guide (aimed at graduate students), but still relevant.

Step 2: Search for a lab. The best method is to start your search on the web.  Here are some helpful links:

• Neuroscience within the Department of MCB (Biolabs)
• Center for Brain Science (North West)
• Cognitive Neuroscience in the Psych Department (William James)
• SEAS (Comp Neuro, Robotics)
• Harvard Medical School Labs (Program in Neuroscience) in the Longwood area
• Harvard Brain Science Initiative
• Harvard MBB (Note: MBB student can join any type of Neuro lab, not just ones listed here)
• Brigham and Women’s
• Beth Israel
• Stanley Center at the Broad
• Neurodegenerative Disease  
• Martinos Imaging Center : 
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Language and Reading
• Mass Eye and Ear
• Children’s Hospital
• Harvard Sleep Medicine
• Medical School BBS Faculty
• Psychiatry Neuroimaging Lab
• McLean Psychiatric Hospital (slightly farther commute)
• You might check out Harvard’s Catalyst site , which helps match researchers with any Harvard lab.

This is not a comprehensive list. Students have found labs in the chem, scrb, heb, or oeb engineering departments. Feel free to search and let us know when you decide. Our only requirement is that the lab is studying cells or signals of the brain.

In addition to these online resources, Dr. Kate Penner, our Undergraduate Research Advisor, is available to meet with students who are early in their lab search. Check out the resources on the “ Research Advising ” website.

Step 3:   Generate a list of labs and make contact.

We recommend that you identify anywhere from 3-10 labs that interest you. If you’d like help refining your list or would like input on the labs you have selected, Dr. Draft or Dr. Magnotti will be happy to go over your list in a meeting.  You may also wish to talk to students in those labs.

When you are ready to contact a lab, you should send an email to the research director (also called lab head or “PI” – principal investigator).  You should first read these very helpful tips provided on the  Life Sciences Research page that talk about how to find and approach labs.

It is typical for students to contact several labs at a time (and you may not hear back from each one).  If you don’t hear back after your first email, send another email a week later. Often PIs miss the first email. Ideally a lab head will respond by inviting you to come by the lab for a meeting where you can discuss potential projects.  If you unsure about which lab is best for you, it is ideal to meet with at least 2 different lab heads before making your decision.

Step 4 :  Begin your research.

Once you settle on a lab, you can begin your research.  Some students choose to volunteer in the lab (anywhere from 5-10 hours per week).  Starting in your junior spring you can receive course credit for your lab work by enrolling in Neuro 91 (15 hours per week). You may instead apply to be paid by the Harvard College Research Program (which funds during term time as well as over the summer: check the funding deadlines ).

• Research Opportunities Fellowships

Below are deadlines and guidelines for potential thesis writers. Please complete the appropriate form depending on whether you are enrolled in an independent research course ( Neuro 91 or 99 ) or not.

Potential Thesis Writer Enrolled in Neuro 91 or 99

Thesis Writer NOT Enrolled in Neuro 91 or 99

Combined Thesis Proposal and 91 Final Report

• Additional Info/agreement form for joint concentrators

Due dates: Fall (March 2024 grads): Saturday, December 9th, 2023 @11:59 PM ET

Spring (May 2024 grads): Tuesday, April 30th, 2024 @ 11:59 PM ET

Junior Thesis Proposal

See Thesis Guidelines

Due Dates: Fall (March 2024 grads): Final thesis due Friday, November 17th, 2023 @5PM ET

Spring (May 2024 grads): Final thesis due Friday, March 8th, 2024 @5 PM ET

Due Dates: Fall (March 2024 grads): Final thesis due Friday, November 17th, 2023 @5 PM ET

Thesis Guidelines and Formatting – Important!

For information on deadlines and formatting your thesis, please read the T hesis Guide 2023-24

Title page and honor code Reference Managers

This page compares various reference managers (Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero): https://guides.library.harvard.edu/cite/compare

• Note: Endnote is free for Harvard students and can be found here
• Short tutorials for using Endnote can be found here: [ Mac ] [ Windows ]

Thesis Workshops and Resources

• The Science Of Scientific Writing
• Tell me a Story
• False Positive Psychology
• Videocasts about making figures
• Story Telling and Visual Style in scientific figures
• Rules For Giving Talk

ARC Resources

• https://academicresourcecenter.harvard.edu/senior-theses

You can see and search for previous Neuroscience Thesis in Hollis using the search terms below:

“Honors in Neuroscience” AND “Harvard College”

You can also look by year below….

Congratulations to Rio McLellan the 2023 Dowling Prize winner! Link to the article about Rio’s thesis .

——————————————————————————-

We would also like to congratulate our SIX 2023 Hoopes Prize winners !

Click here for the full set of 2023 Neuroscience Thesis Abstracts

Age-Specific Functions of Microglial C1q in Neuronal Translational Regulation and Synaptic Plasticity . Research Director: Dr. Beth Stevens

Associations Between Caregiver Depression, Caregiver-Child Play Interactions, and Early Childhood Social Information Processing: An fNIRS Investigation . Research Director: Dr. Charles Nelson

Bayesian Localization of the Seizure Onset Zone A Theoretical Framework for Surgical Decision Making . Research Director: Dr. Joe Madsen

Brain Reactivity to Personalized Alcohol Cues is Related to Severity of Alcohol Use Disorder But Not Subjective Craving in Treatment-Seeking Adults . Research Director: Dr. Scott Lukas

Breaking into Song: Neural Activation and Functional Connectivity of Music with and without Vocals . Research Director: Dr. Psyche Loui

Characterization of Sex Differences in the Neural Control of Social Homeostasis . Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Determining the Effects of Substrate Stiffness on Neuronal Morphology and Metabolism in Rat Cerebral Cortex . Research Director: Dr. Kit Parker

Development of the Brain-Heart Sensory Feedback: The emergence of cardiac encoding neurons in larval zebrafish vagal sensory ganglia . Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

Diffusion-weighted imaging biomarkers predict survival for recurrent glioblastoma patients undergoing anti-angiogenic treatment . Research Director: Dr. Eva Ratai

Effects of Gap Junction-Blocking Drugs on the Survival and Behavior of Larval Zebrafish Implanted with Glioblastoma . Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

Epilepsy Prediction in Patients with Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency . Research Director: Dr. Alexander Rotenberg

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: A Longitudinal fMRI Study on the Efficacy Of Mindfulness Training to Offset Age-Related Cognitive Decline . Research Director: Dr. Sara Lazar

Evidence for a Reduced Neural Capacity in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder . Research Director: Dr. Anne Arnett

Examining Frontolimbic Connectivity and Childhood Trauma as Predictors of Non-Suicidal Self Injury in a High-Risk Cohort of Children . Research Director: Dr. Lois Choi-Kain

Examining the Impact of Early Life Stress on Social Behaviors in Translational Mouse Models . Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Examining the Moderating Impact of Positive Parenting on the Association between Early Life Adversity and Neurodevelopment . Research Director: Dr. Kate McLaughlin

Exploring the Neurobiological Association between Temperament and Polygenic Risk for Psychopathology . Research Director: Dr. Charles Nelson

Exploring the Presence and Function of C1q within Neurons Across Aging . Research Director: Dr. Beth Stevens

Feature-Conditional Probing of Human Neural Data and Artificial Natural Language Models . Research Director: Dr. Josh Greene

Functional Investigation of Somatic Variants in Pediatric Epilepsy with Single-Cell DNA/RNA Assays from Patient-Derived Lymphocytes . Research Director: Dr. Chris Walsh

Genomic Characterization of Genetically Engineered Mouse Model Derived BALB/c Cell Lines for Glioblastoma, Implications for Efficacy  of Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapies . Research Director: Dr. Antonio Chiocca

Hypersensitivity: The Impact of Altered Sensory Circuits on Cortical Development and the Implications for Autism Spectrum Disorder . Research Director: Dr. Lauren Orefice

Identifying long noncoding RNAs as regulators of genes associated with autism spectrum disorder . Research Director: Dr. Chris Walsh

Individuality in Phototactic Preference in Tethered Adult Drosophila melanogaster . Research Director: Dr. Ben de Bivort

Interplay of α-Synuclein and Mitochondrial Bioenergetics in Parkinson’s Disease . Research Director: Dr. Vamsi Mootha

Investigating Long Non-Coding RNAs as Novel Therapeutic Targets in Alzheimer’s Disease . Research Director: Dr. Anna Krichevsky

Investigating the Dynamics of Cell Death and Cell Proliferation in Dorsal Root Ganglia of Axolotls during Peripheral Nerve Regeneration . Research Director: Dr. Jessica Whited

Investigating the Effects of Sex and Bedding and Nesting Conditions on Communicative and Social Behaviors in Mouse Models of Autism Spectrum Disorder . Research Director: Dr. Evan Bordt

Investigating the Protective Role of FBXO17 in the Integrated Stress Response of Glioblastoma Stem Cells . Research Director: Dr. Christian Badr

Investigating the Relation Between Infant Functional Connectivity and Child Internalizing Behavior . Research Director: Dr. Charles Nelson

Investigating the temporal relationship between striatal activity and learned motor behaviors in rats . Research Director: Dr. Bence Ölveczky

Less Than Reckless: Assessing the Role of Consciousness in the Moral Appraisal of Risky Action . Research Director: Dr. Gabriel Kreiman

Many Facets of Language Impairment: Exploring Learning Abilities in Individuals with Aphasia . Research Director: Dr. Sofia Vallila-Rohter

Maternal Exogenous Oxytocin Administration and the Enduring Effects of Birth Manipulations on the Fetal Brain . Research Director: Dr. Marcy Kingsbury

Modeling Temporal Lobe Epilepsy through Prime Editing of RAS-MAPK Variants . Research Director: Dr. Chris Walsh

Overcoming Fear-Neuroadaptive Changes Following Mindfulness Training Enhance Fear Extinction Learning . Research Director: Dr. Sara Lazar

Posttranslational Modifications of α-Tubulin in Axons of Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons . Research Director: Dr. Roz Segal

Pupillometry signatures of neural activity and serotonin release within the auditory cortex of behaving mice . Research Director: Dr. Anne Takesian

Regulation of CPN circuit development by Bcl11a through control of mitochondrial function . Research Director: Dr. Jeff Macklis

Relationships between Irritability and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex, Nucleus Accumbens, and Basolateral Amygdala Structural Volumes and Structural Connectivity in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder . Research Director: Dr. Elizabeth Olson

Reward Network Connectivity Distinguishes Antidepressant Mechanisms of Action in ECT and TMS: A Resting-State fMRI Study . Research Director: Dr. Joan Campodron

Role of Juvenile Shank3 Re-Expression on Autistic-like Cognitive Flexibility Deficits in Male Mice . Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Studying the Relationship Between Neuropeptides Regulating Stress and Anxiety Circuitry in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis: An Investigation Through the Pathology of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder . Research Director: Dr. Sabina Berretta

Synaptic Failure is a Flat Minima Optimizer . Research Director: Dr. Gabriel Kreiman

Systemic Inequity and Structural Integrity: A Neuroimaging Investigation of Socioeconomic Status and Brain Development in Adolescents . Research Director: Dr. Anastasia Yendiki

Targeting Proteostasis Machinery in the Brain Vasculature to Treat Neurodegenerative Disease . Research Director: Dr. Lee Rubin

The Corticospinal Tract and the Evolution of Fine-Motor Skills in Forest and Prairie Deer Mice . Research Director: Dr. Hopi Hoekstra

Theories of Theory of Mind: Investigating the Dimensions and Supportive Neural Architecture of the “Mentalizing Module” . Research Director: Dr. Randy Buckner

Touch as a Key Regulator of Social Need . Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Toward Therapeutic Control of Circadian Rhythms: Optimisation of Pharmaceutical Administration Models for Circadian Entrainment via Nonlinear Model Predictive Control . Research Director: Dr. Frank Doyle

Trying Times: Assessing the Psychiatric Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Recent Trauma Survivors . Research Director: Dr. Nathaniel Harnett

Two major brainstem outputs for interoception . Research Director: Dr. Steve Liberles

Validation of OCT for the Imaging of Infant Brainstems: A Step in the Study of SIDS . Research Director: Dr. Lilla Zollei

Click here for the full set of 2022 Neuroscience Thesis Abstracts

Association between quantitative electroencephalography and severity of structural brain injury after cardiac arrest . Research Director: Dr. Brandon Westover

Associations between childhood trauma, non-suicidal self-injury, and neural correlates of fear learning . Research Director: Dr. Kate McLaughlin

Benevolence Born of Adversity? Investigating the Neural Mechanisms Mediating the Relationship Between Trauma and Prosocial Behavior in Youth Ages 9-10 in the United States . Research Director: Dr. Kerry Ressler

Characterization of Drug Penetration through the Rhesus Monkey Blood-Brain-Barrier using MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging and Immunohistochemistry . Research Director: Dr. Nat Agar

Characterizing Regional Tau Deposition in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: An Investigation of the Neuropsychiatric and Neurocognitive Sequelae of CTE Pathology in the Frontal Lobe . Research Director: Dr. Mike Alosco

Computational Approach for Detailed Quantification of Mouse Parenting Behavior, A . Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Determining Neuroanatomical Variation in Peromyscus Using a Deep Neural Network-Based Method . Research Director: Dr. Sean Eddy

Determining the relationship between psychosocial adversity and children’s executive functioning: an fMRI study . Research Director: Dr. Nadine Gaab

Developing a Microglia-Specific Viral Vector Through Novel Gene Regulatory Elements . Research Director: Dr. Beth Stevens

Developing Human Stem Cell Models to Probe Mechanisms of Therapeutic Psychedelics . Research Director: Dr. Steve Haggarty

Effect of Insulin Resistance on Hypothalamic Senescence, The . Research Director: Dr. Cristina Aguayo-Mazzucato

Exploration of the Relationship Between REM Theta Power Spectral Density and Extinction Retention, An . Research Director: Dr. Ed Pace-Schott

Exploring the mitogenic and proliferative effects of neurotransmitter signaling on high-grade glioma in vitro models . Research Director: Dr. Ganesh Shankar

Fragmentation of the Moral Brain: Exploring the Component Processes of Moral Reasoning and its Relevance to Large-scale Association Networks, the . Research Director: Dr. Randy Buckner

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Individualized Mapping of the Lateral Salience System in Major Depressive Disorder . Research Director: Dr. Matthew Sacchet

Identifying a Critical Period for Social Aversion Following Early Life Stress in Female Mice . Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Investigating Alterations in Neural Responses During Evoked Pain Following Mindfulness Intervention in Patients with Anxiety and Depression . Research Director: Dr. Zev Schuman-Olivier

Investigating BDNF Mediation of Aβ Pathology in a 3D Neural Stem Cell Culture Model of AD . Research Director: Dr. Se Hoon Choi

Investigating local translation with high-throughput RNA sequencing of single synaptosomes .  [HOOPES & DOWLING PRIZE WINNER] Research Director: Dr. Steve McCarroll

Investigating the Relationship Between Visual Evoked Potentials and Cognitive Development in Normocephalic Infants Prenatally exposed to ZIKV in Puerto Rico . Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Investigations of Exercise-Induced Neuroprotection: NMR Analyses of Blood-Based Biomarkers and Gaining CLARITY with Cellular Markers . Research Director: Dr. Christiane Wrann

Macrophage Response and Long-Term White Matter Changes in a Mouse Model of Intraventricular Hemorrhage . Research Director: Dr. Maria Lehtinen

Mapping Aggression Neurocircuitry in a UBE3A Mouse Model of Autism . Research Director: Dr. Clif Saper

Maternal Depression and Infant Internalizing Behaviors: Potential Mediation and Moderation Roles of EEG Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Child Opportunity Index . Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Missing Children of Romania: A Story of a Group Erased from Its Own Narrative, The . Research Director: Dr. Kate McLaughlin

Model of Human-Vehicle Closed Loop Control: Effects of Altered Gravity and Vestibular Sensory Precision . Research Director: Dr. Faisal Karmali

Molecular RNA and protein machinery within subtype-specific corticospinal neurons and their synapses as potential underpinnings of selective vulnerability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis . Research Director: Dr. Jeff Macklis

Neural Representations of Motion Events: The Role of Agency . Research Director: Dr. Alfonso Caramazza

Nociceptor control over resolution of inflammation and tissue repair in the skin . Research Director: Dr. Clifford Woolf

Novel Protocol for Understanding the Role of Cell Metabolism in Early Human Embryogenesis: Modeling Neurulation and Somitogenesis in 3D Cell Culture, A . [HOOPES PRIZE WINNER] Research Director: Dr. Olivier Pourquie

Novelty-Enhanced Learning: An Exploration of Behavioral Tagging in Humans . Research Director: Dr. Liz Phelps

Of Mice and Music: Female mice exhibit a novel response to acoustic stimuli following early-life exposure . Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Opioid Dependence and Withdrawal-Driven Modulations of Feeding in Male and Female rats . Research Director: Dr. Elena Chartoff

Perceptual Hypersensitivity to Sound Following Acoustic Trauma . Research Director: Dr. Dan Polley

Potential Role for Kynurenine in Maternal Inflammation-induced Neurodevelopment Pathologies, A . Research Director: Dr. Naama Kanarek

Psychosocial Adversity and Language Learning Outcomes of 2- and 5-year-old Bangladeshi children: An fNIRS Analysis . Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

RIMS2 effects on a-synuclein may drive Parkinson’s disease . Research Director: Dr. Clemens Scherzer

Role of NDNF Neurons in Auditory Perception . Research Director: Dr. Anne Takesian

Sexual Dimorphism of the Hippocampus Structure and Function in Psychosis . Research Director: Dr. Marek Kubicki

Simplicity within Complexity: Rich but Generalizable Representations in Prefrontal Cortex During Foraging Behavior . Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida Study of Visual Evoked Potentials in Children with Fragile X and Down Syndrome, A . Research Director: Dr. Carol Wilkinson

We Can’t All Be Right: The Neural Correlates of Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion Statements in a Political Context . [HOOPES PRIZE WINNER] Research Director: Dr. Mina Cikara 

Windows of Early Life Stress and Attentional Function in Mice . Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch 

Click here for the full set of 2021 Neuroscience Thesis Abstracts

Aging, Episodic Retrieval, and Metacognition during Everyday Problem Solving. Research Director: Dr. Daniel Schacter

Analysis of the Neural Correlates of Psychosis: From Antiquity to Modern Research. Research Director: Dr. Martha Shenton

Breath Metabolomics: Identifying Exhaled Biomarkers Associated with Acute Sleep Deficiency. Research Director: Dr. Charles Czeisler

Calcium Signaling in Schizophrenia: Exploring the Role of CACNA1C in Human Synaptogenesis with High-Throughput Imaging. Research Director: Dr. Kevin Eggan

Changes to Human Sleep in Long-Duration Spaceflight. Research Director: Dr. Bob Stickgold

Charting the Cerebral Stars: A Comprehensive Molecular Profile of Astrocytes Across Species and Brain Regions. Research Director: Dr. Guoping Feng

Combined Neurophysiological and Behavioral Assessment of Prolonged Recovery from Neuromuscular Blockade in Human Infants. Research Director: Dr. Charles Berde

Context-Robust Object Recognition via Object Manipulations in a Synthetic 3D Environment. Research Director: Dr. Gabriel Kreiman

Dissociation of Speed and Reward Maximization in Motor Skill Learning. Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida

Effect of parental monitoring on epigenetic age and CRP levels among young adults in the ALSPAC cohort, the.. Research Director: Dr. Erin Dunn

Effect of SRGAP2 Knockout on the Temporal Properties of Critical Periods in Visual, Auditory, and Anterior Cingulate Cortices, the. Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Electron Microscopy Analysis of Novel Merged Cells. Research Director: Dr. Jeff Lichtman

Exercise, Anxiety, and Heart Rate Variability: An Ecological Study Using Wearable Technology. Research Director: Dr. Richard McNally

Fever Effect, the: Behavioral Changes Induced by Fever in Autistic Mouse Model CNTNAP2-/-. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Hippocampal Correlations: A Fine-Scale, Trial-Specific Investigation of the Subcortical Brain and Distributed Cortical Networks Within Individuals. Research Director: Dr. Randy Buckner

Identifying novel AD-risk genes implicated in microglia engulfment function using iPSC-derived iMGLs. Research Director: Dr. Beth Stevens

Impact of Distraction on the Effortful Control of Preschool-Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, the. Research Director: Dr. Susan Faja

Implicit Learning Processes in Young Adults during Artificial Grammar Learning Tasks, the. Research Director: Dr. Yael Arbel

Investigating the Role of Klf9 in the Division Pattern and Differentiation of Neural Stem Cells in the Adult Hippocampus. Research Director: Dr. Amar Sahay

Investigating the Role of Smoking Cue Reactivity in General Attention Processing. Research Director: Dr. Amy Janes

Mapping the Emotional Mind: Investigating the Fornix Using Diffusion MRI-Based Tractography Techniques. Research Director: Dr. Chiara Maffei

Marginalized Mind in Constant Crisis, the: Racism-Related Adversity Alters Neurobehavioral Response to Threat and Portends Risk of Internalizing Psychopathology. Research Director: Dr. Kate McLaughlin

Methodology for the Selection and Production of Antigen-Specific, Dual-Fluorescent, Nanobodies to Label Distinct Neuronal Cell Types, A. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Modern Infant Listening Subject, the: Examining White Matter Organization, Music Environment, and Listening in Early Childhood. Research Director: Dr. Nadine Gaab

Molecular Mechanisms Mediating the Effect of Fever on Social Behavior in Mice. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Mouse Foraging Behavior in a Dynamic Virtual Environment. Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida

Movies & Memory: How Film Editing Can Impact Episodic Memory Formation. Research Director: Dr. Gabriel Kreiman

Neural Measures of Social Attention as an Indicator of Communication and Social Development in Infants at-risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Neuronal Control of Sexually Dimorphic Behaviors: Investigation of the effects of Neuromodulation in the Ventral Premammillary Nucleus of the Hypothalamus. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

NF-κB as a Potential Pathway of Environmental Toxicants in the Development of Parkinson’s Disease. Research Director: Dr. Lee Rubin

Predictability and detectability affect processing of syntactic category violations: An EEG study. Research Director: Dr. Jesse Snedeker

Predictive Value of Myo-inositol Measured by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging during Anti-angiogenic Treatment in Recurrent Glioblastoma. Research Director: Dr. Eva Ratai

Racism’s Health Harm on Black Youth Mental Health: From (Neuro)Scientific Orthodoxy to Neuroscience as a Vessel of Visibility. Research Director: Dr. Marisa Silveri

Reading Minds: A Neurocognitive Perspective on How Reading Evokes Emotion. Research Director: Dr. Joanna Christodoulou

Role of ER Stress in Regulation of Glioblastoma cancer stem cells, The. Research Director: Dr. Christian Badr

Role of Prediction Errors in the Positive Memory Deficit in Depression, The. Research Director: Dr. Dan Dillon

Towards a Neural Mechanism of Associative Learning: Phasic Dopamine Activity Shifts from Rewards to Cues During Conditioning. Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida

Towards a Technology for Single-Molecule Protein Sequencing: Engineering Binders for the Detection of N-terminal Amino Acids. Research Director: Dr. Edward Boyden

Troublesome Teenagers: Developing an Experimental Paradigm to Quantify Socially Mediated Alcohol Consumption in Juvenile Mus musculus. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Utilizing a novel naturalistic paradigm to systematically assess social need in WT and ASD mice. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Click here for the full set of 2020 Neuroscience Thesis Abstracts

Associations of socioeconomic status and autism spectrum disorder with EEG power in 12-month-old infants, the. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability in a Mouse Model of Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Research Director: Dr. Mike Whalen

Characterizing Neural Noise using the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex. Research Director: Dr. Faisal Karmali

Comparing patterns of cortical thickness between developmental prosopagnosics and typically-developed controls: A case where deficient face recognition performance is associated with thicker cortex. Research Director: Dr. Joe DeGutis

Connectomics: An Analysis of Human Cortical Layer 1 & Implications for Theory of Mind and Personal Identity. Research Director: Dr. Jeff Lichtman

Disruption of Amyloid-ß Aggregates Using Targeted Magnetic Nanotherapy in a 3D Human Neural Cell Culture Model of Alzheimer’s Disease. Research Director: Dr. Rudolph Tanzi

Does predictable prosodic timing facilitate spoken language processing in people with aphasia?. Research Director: Dr. Lauren Zipse

EEG Theta/Beta Ratios as an Index of how Early Institutionalization Impacts Externalizing Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits in Early Adolescence . Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Effects of Early Life Stress on the Myelination of Parvalbumin Interneurons in the Prefrontal Cortex of Mice. Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Ethometer: Mapping animal behavior using unsupervised machine learning. Research Director: Dr.Venki Murthy

Evidence for Conserved Interactions between Fat3 and LAR Family Proteins in Amacrine Cell Development . Research Director: Dr. Lisa Goodrich

Evolution of Defensive Behavior Against Visual Threat in Deer Mice, The. Research Director: Dr.Hopi Hoekstra

Examination of How Anxiety Sensitivity Relates to PTSD Symptoms and Resting-State Functional Connectivity in a Trauma-Exposed Sample, An. Research Director: Dr. Isabelle Rosso

Examining links between music, emotion, and reading: An investigation of structural brain differences in school-aged children with and without musical training and dyslexia. Research Director: Dr. Nadine Gaab

Examining the Role of Parts in Object Recognition for Artificial Neural Networks. Research Director: Dr. George Alvarez

Exploration of Trichromatic Plasticity in Juvenile Macaques. Research Director: Dr. Marge Livingstone

How Our Brains Vote: Neurobiological Differences Moderate the Impact of Sleep on Voter-Related Behavior. Research Director: Dr. Josh Buckholtz

Impact of Chronic Sleep Restriction on Sleep Continuity and Sleep Structure. Research Director: Dr.Charles Czeisler

Investigating Neuronal Circuit Processing of Sensory Cues During Parenting Behavior. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Investigating the CIC Protein’s Role in Neurodevelopment Using Patient-Derived iPSC Models. Research Director: Dr. Steve Haggarty

Investigating the Relationship Between Behavioral Inhibition and Responses to Emotional Stimuli in Infancy: an ERP Study. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Modeling NaV1.7 Channelopathies Using Genetically-Engineered Human iPSC-Derived Sensory Neurons. Research Director: Dr. Clifford Woolf

Neural Basis of the Effect of Future Simulation on False Episodic Memory, The. Research Director: Dr. Dan Schacter

Neural Correlates of Over-Sensitivity to Negative Valence Expressions in Three-Year-Old Children. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Neurobiological effects of Ketamine on Anxiety Circuitry in Patients with Fear of Harm Phenotype of Bipolar Disorder, The. Research Director: Dr. Marty Teicher

Novel Reflexive Gap Junctions in Cortical Inhibitory Neurons: Functional Implications of Neuronal Self-Recognition. Research Director: Dr. Jeff Lichtman

Physical Knowledge Emerges from the Visually Modulated Escape Behavior of Larval Zebrafish. Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

Potential of Receptive Music Intervention on Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Resting-State fMRI Study. Research Director: Dr. Maiya Geddes

Probing Dysregulation of Early Endosomes and Lysosomes in Late Onset Alzheimer’s Disease Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Research Director: Dr. Tracy Young-Pearse

Reading the Mind: Semantic Representations of Self and Others in the Theory of Mind Network. Research Director: Dr. Jason Mitchell

Reward of Others’ Pain: The Morality of Schadenfreude and Neural Correlates of Latent Preferences for Out-Group Harm, The. Research Director: Dr. Mina Cikara

Role of Caspase-3 in Visual Plasticity. Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Role of Serotonin in Auditory Perceptual Learning. Research Director: Dr. Anne Takesian

Role of the Hippocampus in Dopamine Ramping During Spatial Navigation, The. Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida

Role of the Ventral Striatum in Olfactory Learning and the Exceptional Ability of Olfactory Associations to Evoke Emotional Memories, The. Research Director: Dr. Venki Murthy

Selective Activation, Collective Suppression: Provisional Evidence for Broad Modulation of Large-Scale Networks from Within-Individual Analysis of the Default Network. Research Director: Dr.Randy Buckner

Serine Racemase Expression During Post-Natal Development and Involvement of SR-Expressing Neurons in Fear Extinction Learning . Research Director: Dr. Darrick Balu

Single-Cell Atlas of the Peromyscus Retina: Evolution at the Cell-Type Level, A. Research Director: Dr. Josh Sanes

Stress-dependent Olfactory Modulation of Larval Zebrafish. Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

Click here for the full set of 2019 Neuroscience Thesis Abstracts

Anatomical Folding Predicts the Locations of Face-Selective Domains in Macaque Inferotemporal Cortex. Research Director: Dr. Marge Livingstone

Behavioral Test of Depth Perception: Measuring Binocular Vision in Mice. Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Brain activity as a mediator of institutional rearing on social communication in adolescence. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Characterizing the Morphology of Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Neuronal Interactions: Exploring Ultrastructural Features that May Subserve Circadian Synchronization in Mammals. Research Director: Dr. Jeff Lichtman

Consequences of early sight deprivation in macaques and the role of motion following sight restoration. Research Director: Dr. Marge Livingstone

Development of 5-HT3AR-Expressing Interneurons in Auditory Cortex, the. Research Director: Dr. Anne Takesian

Effect of age on the pattern of blood-brain barrier disruption, matrix metalloproteinase-9 upregulation, and damage in a large animal model of severe traumatic brain injury with unilateral hemispheric hypodensity, the. Research Director: Dr. Beth Costine-Bartell

Effects of prenatal exposure to air pollution and maternal stress on social behavior and underlying neuro-immune mediators. Research Director: Dr. Staci Bilbo

Electrodermal Reactivity and Distress Tolerance in Adults with a History of Non-suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI). Research Director: Dr. Matthew Nock

An Exploration of the Effects of Attention on Neural Processing of Visual Information. Research Director: Dr. George Alvarez

Exploring the Glymphatic System: A Foray into the Function of Paravascular Spaces. Research Director: Dr. Charles Czeisler

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Alcohol’s effect on the brain and the risk for chronic adult diseases. Research Director: Dr. Wolfram Goessling

Fever Effect, the: Investigating Behavioral Changes Observed During Febrile Periods in Autistic Mouse Models. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Frontal gamma activity is associated with language ability in 18-month-olds with high familial risk for autism. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

How Microglia Affect Adult Neurogenesis and Learning in the Olfactory Bulb. Research Director: Dr. Venki Murthy

Identifying Phospholipid Pathway Proteins as Modifiers of α-Synuclein Phenotypes in Cellular Models of Parkinson’s Disease. Research Director: Dr. Dennis Selkoe

Interictal Spike Characteristics and Seizure Risk in BECTS Epilepsy. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Chu

Investigating the role of the PAG in processing pup vocalizations in mice. Research Director:Dr. Catherine Dulac

Investigating Visual Evoked Potentials as a Possible Biomarker for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Investigation of Endosomal and Lysosomal Biology in Alzheimer’s Disease Using Patient-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Research Director: Dr. Tracy Young-Pearse

Long-term Glial Response To 56Fe Radiation In APP/PS1 Transgenic Mice, the. Research Director: Dr. Cindy Lemere

Mother’s Pain, a: The Effects of Postpartum Depression and Childhood Maltreatment on Maternal Neurobiology. Research Director: Dr. Marty Teicher

Neuronal and Genetic Correlates of Prosocial Behavior in Mice. Research Director: Dr. Ziv Williams

Optimizing In-Vitro Motor Neuron Differentiation from Pluripotent Stem Cells via Epigenetic Alteration. Research Director: Dr. Kevin Eggan

Oxytocin and the Induction of Labor in Determining Early Neurodevelopment in Prairie Vole Models. Research Director: Dr. Marcy Kingsbury

Pharmacological Disruption of Prepulse Inhibition of Acoustic Startle in Intervendor Sprague Dawley Rats. Research Director: Dr. Barak Caine

Prefrontal Cortex Responses in Infancy Predict Anxious Behaviors in Early Childhood. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Role of RUNX1 in the Progression of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition in Proliferative Vitreoretinopathy, the. Research Director: Dr. Leo Kim

Statistical learning and language outcomes of 5-year-old urban Bangladeshi children: An fNIRS investigation. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Stochastic Individuality in Drosophila melanogaster: An Investigation of the Neural Generation of Idiosyncratic Behavior. Research Director: Dr. Ben de Bivort

Toward Understanding the Role of Physical Activity and Functional Connectivity in Health and Pathology Using Machine Learning. Research Director: Dr. Justin Baker

Click here for the full set of 2018 Neurobiology Thesis Abstracts

All for one and some for all? Using EEG and the N400 response to track online scalar implicature calculation in adults. Research Director: Dr. Jesse Snedeker

Autonomic and brain activity concordance in patient/clinician dyads – a hyperscan fMRI study. Research Director: Dr. Vitaly Napadow

Characterizing the Morphology and Interactions of Glia in the Developing Cerebellum. Research Director: Dr. Jeff Lichtman

Data Visualization Software for DBS and Classification of Intraoperative Targets. Research Director: Dr. Todd Herrington

Developing Proteomic Techniques: Uncovering Potential Biomarkers for Rett Syndrome using Proteomic Analysis of Cerebrospinal Fluid. Research Director: Dr. Hanno Steen

Development of a Novel Oncolytic Virus Targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 Pathway for Glioblastoma Treatment. Research Director: Dr. Sean Lawler

Effects of Family History and Home Literacy Environment on Cortical Brain Structures in Pre-Reading Age Children. Research Director: Dr. Nadine Gaab

Effects of Growth Stunting on Neural Functional Connectivity: An fNIRS Study of 3-year-olds in Bangladesh. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Elucidating the Therapeutic Benefits of Docosahexaenoic Acid for Major Depressive Disorder in Human iPSC-Derived Neuronal Cell Models. Research Director: Dr. Steve Haggarty

Functional genetic screen in Drosophila on proteasome-modulated tau toxicity, A. Research Director: Dr. Mel Feany

Genomic Imprinting: Analysis of dynamic genomic imprinting at the resolution of single cells. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Impact of Maternal Depression on the Relationship Between EEG and Behavioral Inhibition Through the First Three Years of Life. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Influence of Early-Life Stress on Sleep and Attentional Functions in Mice. Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Influence of Social Dominance on Competitive Foraging Behavior in Wild-Type and Shank3-Deficient Mice. Research Director: Dr. Ziv Williams

Insights into amyloid-β42 aggregate structure from large-scale mutational data. Research Director: Dr. Sean Eddy

Investigating GDF11’s Permeability through the Blood-Brain Barrier and its Effect on Cerebral Vasculature. Research Director: Dr. Lee Rubin

Investigating the Relationship between Self-Punishment, Self-Criticism, the Experience of Pain and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury. Research Director: Dr. Jill Hooley

Investigation of Altered Neural Response Variability as a Key Marker of Disordered Neural Development in Children with 16p11.2 Copy Number. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Lynx1 Enables Attentional Suppression under Sleep Need. Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Neural and Behavioral Effects of an Olfactory Masking Agent. Research Director: Dr. Venki Murthy

Neurobiology of Nesting Behavior in Peromyscus: Striatal Activity during Nesting and Candidate Gene Expression Patterns in Peromyscus polionotus and P. maniculatus Brains. Research Director: Dr. Hopi Hoekstra

Novel biomarkers for visceral and liver fat: Establishing a framework for testing the role of ectopic fat in cognitive impairment. Research Director: Dr. Bruce Kristal

Novel microdialysis reporter illuminates genetic expression of the dopamine transporter in the brain of awake, free-moving rats. Research Director: Dr. Barak Caine

Parkinson’s Disease-Linked Gene Products Alter Mitochondrial Function. Research Director: Dr. Matt LaVoie

Patterns of cortical metabolism and their association with longitudinal neurodegeneration in the three clinical variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia. Research Director: Dr. Brad Dickerson

Resting EEG Activity as Predictor of Treatment Response in Depressed Adolescents. Research Director: Dr. Randy Auerbach

Role of Childhood Onset Schizophrenia and Epilepsy Genes in the Brain and Behavior. Research Director: Dr. Alex Schier

Role of Nociceptors in Driving Antibody Class Switching in Allergic Inflammation. Research Director: Dr. Clifford Woolf

Role of the Anterior Dorsal Striatum, Dorsolateral Striatum, and Posterior Tail of the Striatum in the Execution and Memory of Learned Motor Skills. Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida

Skilled manipulandum-based task for motor learning in mice. Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida

Transcriptomic Analysis of 3D Human Neural Cell Culture Model of Alzheimer’s Disease. Research Director: Dr. Doo Yeon Kim

Viewpoint invariance of macaque inferotemporal cortex: continuity versus spontaneity in object recognition. Research Director: Dr. Marge Livingstone

ZAP ZAP! An investigation into the capacities and neural loci of visual short term memory and visual manipulation through the use of transcranial direct current stimulation. Research Director: Dr. George Alvarez

Click here for the full set of 2017 Neurobiology Thesis Abstracts 

Analyzing Superior Collicular Neuronal Circuitry in Mouse Models of Rett Syndrome. Research Director: Dr. Michela Fagiolini

Characterizing CDKL5-mutant mouse models of Rett syndrome-like Disorders. Research Director: Dr. Michela Fagiolini

Characterizing Trem2 expression for study of microglia-mediated synapse pruning. Research Director: Dr. Beth Stevens

Computational Study of Adaptive Behaviors in a Mouse Model of Motor Control. Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida

Developing silencing strategies for unmyelinated mechanoreceptors and assessing the behavioral implications. Research Director: Dr. David Ginty

Early Biomarkers for Anxiety: An event-related potential study on emotional face processing and internalizing traits in three-year olds. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Effects of inflammation on brain development in Bangladeshi children. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Effects of Microbubble-Enhanced MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound on the Expression of P-glycoprotein in the Blood-Brain Barrier. Research Director: Dr. Nathan McDannold

Evaluating Phase-Amplitude Coupling As a Marker of Cognitive Development in Rural Pakistani Children. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Face ERPs at 9 Months Predict Later Social Behaviors. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Impact of Increased Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activity on Impulsivity. Research Director: Dr. Josh Buckholtz

Impact of Maternal Stress and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status on Infant Neurodevelopment at Two and Six Months. Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

Investigating the Relationship Between L2 Acquisition & White Matter Integrity: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study. Research Director: Dr. Gigi Luk

Investigating the Role of Microglia in Synapse Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Models. Research Director: Dr. Beth Stevens

Longitudinal Deep Phenotyping of the Individual: Dynamics Associated with Real-World Stress. Research Director: Dr. Randy Buckner

Modeling and Preventing Inclusions That Result from Alpha-Synuclein Dyshomeostasis. Research Director: Dr. Dennis Selkoe

Modeling Trail Tracking Behaviors and Antennae Dynamics in Camponotus pennsylvanicus. Research Director: Dr. Venki Murthy

Neural Basis of Social Hiearchy in Mus Musculus. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

Regulating inhibitory interneuron circuits through the choroid plexus: A potential therapeutic target for Rett syndrome. Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Role of Microglia in the Regulation of Synapse Development and Survival of Adult-born Neurons in the Olfactory Bulb. [DOWLING PRIZE WINNER]  Research Director: Dr. Venki Murthy

Role of the SVA Retrotransposon Insertion in the Manifestation of X-Linked Dystonia Parkinsonism. Research Director: Dr. Cris Bragg

Screening for clonal biases in the generation of retinal neural subtypes. Research Director: Dr. Ryan Draft

Sensory Gating: From elevators to schizophrenia. Research Director: Dr. Bob Stickgold

Tradeoff between cost and accuracy in model-free and model-based reinforcement learning systems. Research Director: Dr. Sam Gershman

What to do when your baby monkey falls asleep in the scanner: A study on resting-state and stimulus-state functional connectivity in infant macaques. Research Director: Dr. Marge Livingstone

What’s normal anyway? Day to day variation in brain structure and behavior of healthy individuals. Research Director: Dr. Randy Buckner

Click here for the .pdf containing the full 2016 Neurobiology Thesis Abstracts

• Analysis of Large Amino Acid Mutants in the APP C100-FLAG Sequence and Shifts in the AŒ≤42/40 Ratio . Research Director: Dr. Michael Wolfe

• Clustering MS Associated Risk Loci and Understanding Their Functional Effects in an Evolutionary Context . Research Director: Dr. Philip de Jager

• Computer Vision System for Mouse Sniff Detection . Research Director: Dr. Venki Murthy

• Cortical Development and Preferential Looking in Face-Deprived Juvenile Macaques . Research Director: Dr. Marge Livingstone

• Determining the Presence of a Residual Motor Memory in Songbird Vocal Learning . Research Director: Dr. Bence Ölveczky

• Discovering an action perception and comprehension impairment linked to cerebral palsy . Research Director: Dr. Alfonso Caramazza

• Dynamic regulation of the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway in glioblastoma multiforme . Research Director: Dr. Mark Johnson

• Effect of developmental activation of serotonergic neurons on adult aggression in Drosophila melanogaster . Research Director: Dr. Ed Kravitz

• Functionality Connectivity of Reward Circuitry in Patients with Bipolar Disorder and Cannabis Use Disorder . Research Director: Dr. Ann Shinn

• Identification of the releasing stimuli of pup-directed behaviors: biochemical and behavior studies . Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac [HOOPES WINNER]

• Identifying downstream effects of truncated DISC1 in human neuronal cells using iPSCs . Research Director: Dr. Tracy Young-Pearse

• Investigating Potential Targets of the Let-7 Complex: Dally-like and Folded Gastrulation . Research Director: Dr. Sam Kunes

• Investigating the Neural Correlates of Delay Discounting Across Mood Disorders:A High-Density Event Related Potential Study . Research Director: Dr. Diego Pizzagalli

• Language Outcomes in Toddlerhood for Infants at High-Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder and Language Disorder: The Association Between Brain and Behavior . Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

• Locomotor plasticity in Drosophila melanogaster: A role for proprioception in acute response to injury . Research Director: Dr. Ben de Bivort [DOWLING PRIZE WINNER]

• Lynx1 Expression Mediates Attentional State . Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

• Maternal Anxiety and Infant Face-Processing: an event-related potential study . Research Director: Dr. Chuck Nelson

• MicroRNA-34 and its Targets Mediate Disease Phenotypes of the Synapse During Development . Research Director: Dr. David Van Vactor

• Molecular correlates of tumor size and MRI contrast enhancement in a cohort of lower-grade glioma patients . Research Director: Dr. Daniel Cahill

• Neuronal Basis of Burrowing Behavior in Peromyscus . Research Director: Dr. Hopi Hoekstra

• Organization of Second-Order Afferent Neurons in the Larval Zebrafish Posterior Lateral Line Circuit . Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

• Role of CACNA1C gene variant in abnormal behavioral phenotypes and potential serotonergic neuropathology . Research Director: Dr. Kathryn Commons

• Role of the Pedunculopontine Tegmentum in Signaling Reward Prediction Error to Dopamine Neurons of the Ventral Tegmental Area . Research Director: Dr. Nao Uchida [GRADED SUMMA]

• Role of Twist-1 in cerebrovenous angiogenesis and neurodevelopment . Research Director: Dr. Elizabeth Engle

• Targeting inhibitory interneuron maturation in a mouse model of Rett Syndrome . Research Director: Dr. Michaela Fagiolini

• Thalamic Reticular Nucleus and Sleep . Research Director: Dr. Bob Stickgold

• Utilizing an In-Vitro Based Cell Model to Characterize the Pathogenic Mechanisms of C9ORF72-induced ALS-FTD . Research Director: Dr. Kevin Eggan

• Volitional (In)significance of Neuroscience: What Libetian Investigations Can and Cannot Do for Free Will . Research Director: Dr. Gabriel Kreiman [GRADED SUMMA]

Click here for the .pdf containing the full 2015 Neurobiology Thesis Abstracts

• Analyzing the behavior and neuronal circuits associated with the learning and memory related to aggression in Drosophila melanogaster. Research Director: Dr. Edward A. Kravitz

• Characterization of a Novel Family of Odorant Receptors Associated with Innate Behavior . Research Director: Dr. Sandeep Robert Datta

• Characterization of the Activity of Glutamatergic Neurons in the Pedunculopontine Tegmentum During Decision-Making . Research Director: Dr. Naoshige Uchida

• Comparison of the nest-building behavior of Peromyscus polionotus and Peromyscus maniculatus as a mechanism of thermoregulation. Research Director: Dr. Hopi Hoekstra

• Development and neural bases of happy and angry facial processing in infants: A study in NIRS and eye tracking. Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Differential Susceptibility to Early Adverse Experiences: The Effects of Oxytocin Receptor Gene Variations and Institutional Rearing on Emotional Processing. Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Evaluating the effects of candidate proteins on APP cleavage and Alzheimer’s disease phenotypes in human iPSC derived neurons. Research Director: Dr. Dennis Selkoe

• Evidence for Synchronous Theta and Gamma Oscillations during Ketamine-induced General Anesthesia. Research Director: Dr. Emery Brown

• Examining Differences in the Default Mode Network between Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis and Healthy Controls in China. Research Director: Dr. Larry Seidman

• Functional Investigation and Spatial Regulation of Chr15qD3 Imprinted Genes in the Brain. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

• Inducible chronic overexpression of transcription factor Krüppel-like factor 9 (Klf-9) as a model for neurodegeneration. Research Director: Dr. Amar Sahay

• Investigating Differences in Neural Activity of Young Children with and without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Research Director: Dr. Margaret Sheridan

• Investigating Intrinsic Brain Networks in Adult and Pediatric Patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Research Director: Dr. David Borsook

• Localizing subtypes of impulsivity to subregions of the striatum. Research Director: Dr. Joshua Buckholtz

• Longitudinal Analysis of Depressive Symptoms and Neurocognitive Function in Men with and without HIV Infection and Heavy Cocaine Use. Research Director: Dr. Dana Gabuzda

• Maternal care or neuronal despair? Impact of fragmented maternal care and the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on the prefrontal cortex in mice. Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

• Microglia Mediate Synapse Loss in Early Stage Alzheimer’s Disease Via the Classical Complement Cascade. Research Director: Dr. Beth Stevens

• Microglia-Specific Contribution to Rett Syndrome Behavioral Phenotypes. Research Director: Dr. Beth Stevens

• Microglial Responses to Environmental Enrichment in Alzheimer’s Disease Models. Research Director: Dr. Dennis Selkoe

• Mindfulness meditation as a potential intervention to improve future self-continuity. Research Director: Dr. Sara Lazar

• Neural Correlates of Imitation in Children with ASD. Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Optogenetic manipulation of hippocampal place cells causes impairment of stereotyped tracking behavior. Research Director: Dr. Venkatesh N. Murthy

• Optogenetic stimulation of auditory corticofugal projections modulates activity in the auditory midbrain. Research Director: Dr. Daniel Polley

• Plasticity of dopaminergic neural circuits in the mouse olfactory bulb. Research Director: Dr. Venkatesh N. Murthy

• Potential Contributor to Learning at the Intersection of Wakefulness and Sleep: The Role of Alpha Wave Activity in Spatial Memory Consolidation. Research Director: Dr. Robert Stickgold

• Role of ABCD1 in Human Brain Microvascular Endothelium: Implications for Cerebral X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy. Research Director: Dr. Florian Eichler

• Role of Kif21a in peripheral spinal motor and sensory neuron development. Research Director: Dr. Elizabeth Engle

• Role of Ror  in retinal development and Age-related Macular Degeneration pathophysiology. Research Director: Dr. Neena Haider

• Role of Vomeronasal Receptors Vmn2r65 and Vmn2r88 in Pheromone Detection. Research Director: Dr. Catherine Dulac

• Selectively Altering Intertemporal Decision-Making Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. Research Director: Dr. Joshua Buckholtz

• Small molecule that binds Max, inhibits Myc activity and reduces the viability of human cancer cell lines. Research Director: Dr. Angela Koehler

• Social Isolation Stress in Male and Female Rats: Role of Kappa Opioid Receptors. Research Director: Dr. Elena Chartoff

• Sound Asleep: Auditory Reactivation of Emotional Memory Consolidation During Sleep. Research Director: Dr. Robert Stickgold

• Use Of Stem Cells Loaded With Hyaluronidase-Expressing Oncolytic Viruses To Treat Malignant Brain Tumors. Research Director: Dr. Khalid Shah

• Using Functional Connectivity to Understand Memory System Communication During Off-line Learning. Research Director: Dr. Edwin Robertson

• Winner Effect in Female Dendrobates tinctorius Dominance Contests. Research Director: Dr. Lauren O’Connell

Click here for the .pdf containing the full 2014 Neurobiology Thesis Abstracts

• Characterization of the Differences in Food Odor Naive Preference and Learning in C. elegans Males and Hermaphrodites. Research Director: Dr. Yun Zhang

• Characterizing the Roles of Cholinergic and GABAergic Neurons in C. elegans Head Movement. Research Director: Dr. Yun Zhang

• Circadian Activity Rhythm Disturbances and Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Cell Population Size in Elderly Humans. Research Director: Dr. Clifford Saper

• Consolidation of Motor and Spatial Memory during Sleep in Relation to EEG Features, The. Research Director: Dr. Erin Wamsley

• Contributions of estrogen and oral contraceptive use to sex differences in functional responding during fear extinction recall. Research Director: Dr. Mohammed Milad

• Deconstructing the Moral Mind: An fMRI Investigation Mapping the Foundations of Moral Judgment. Research Director: Dr. Joshua Greene

• Development and neural bases of happy face processing in infants: A study in fNIRS and temperament. Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Development of Spatial Memory Abilities in Infants and Children: A Behavioral and Electrophysiological Study, Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Developmental Regulation of TRP Channel Expression in Oligodendrocytes, Research Director: Dr. Paul A. Rosenberg

• Diffusion tensor imaging of the stria terminalis in first episode schizophrenia. Research Director: Dr. Martha E. Shenton

• Effects of CFEOM3 mutations in beta tubulin isotype III on cranial nerve development. Research Director: Dr. Elizabeth Engle

• Emergence of Orientation Invariant Representations Within the Visual Cortex. Research Director: Dr. George Alvarez

• Expert Symbol Learning, Invariant Visual Object Recognition and Value-Based Generalization.  Research Director: Dr. Margaret Livingstone

• How does Socioeconomic Status Affect Children’s Executive Function? Examining Motivation and Neural Structure as Possible Mediating Factors. Research Director: Dr. Margaret Sheridan

• Hyper-aggression, Long-term Consequences of Social Defeat, and Resilience in Drosophila melanogaster. Research Director: Dr. Edward A. Kravitz

• Impact of Stress on Reward Responsiveness in Individuals with Remitted Major Depressive Disorder: An EEG Study, Research Director: Dr. Diego A. Pizzagalli

• Interfacing three-dimensional macroporous nanowire nanoelectronic scaffolds with neural tissue in vivo. Research Director: Dr. Charles M. Lieber

• Investigating Cell Surface Receptors of the Vagus Nerve. Research Director: Dr. Stephen Liberles

• Investigating effects of the Behavioral Inhibition temperament construct on stimulus-driven affective attention and attention-shifting in 7-month old infants: An ERP study. Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Investigating molecular mechanisms over subtype-specific neocortical projection neuron dendritic development. Research Director: Dr. Jeffrey Macklis

• Investigating Neural Activation to Repetition and Non-Repetition Grammar Patterns in 7-Month Olds at High Risk for Autism. Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Investigating the carboxypeptidase function of Alzheimer’s gamma secretase through substrate deletion mutants. Research Director: Dr. Michael S. Wolfe

• Mapping a Signal Transduction Pathway for Olfactory Preference in C. elegans. Research Director: Dr. Yun Zhang

• Multimodal Neuroimaging and Behavioral Studies on Auditory-Motor Deficiencies and Compensatory Mechanisms. Research Director: Dr. Gottfried Schlaug

• Neuron type specific tracing from Dopaminergic neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area in Transgenic Mice. Research Director: Dr. Naoshige Uchida

• Novel study on miR-505 in glioblastoma metabolism and cell survival, Research Director: Dr. Mark Johnson

• Optogenetic interrogation of the role of the hippocampal CA3 region in fear learning. Research Director: Dr. Uwe Rudolph

• Phase-Amplitude Coupling in Infant Resting-State EEG as a Potential Marker for Compensatory Activity in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Role of the Retrograde Response Gene Bcl-w in the Auditory System, Research Director: Dr. Rosalind A. Segal

• Visual Feedback Latency Reduces the Retention of Visuomotor Learning and Alters Its Internal Representation. Research Director: Dr. Maurice Smith

• Your Brain on SET: An Exploration of the Neural Basis of Expertise in Rule-Based Pattern Recognition. Research Director: Dr. George Alvarez

Click here for the .pdf containing the full 2013 Neurobiology Thesis Abstracts

• Anxiety and Future Thinking: Effects of Emotion on Repeated and Alternative Episodic Future Event Simulation. Research Director: Dr. Daniel L. Schacter

• Association of Socioeconomic Status with Prefrontal Cortical Thickness and Subcortical Volumes in Children and Adolescents.Research Director: Dr. Margaret Sheridan

• Behavioral and electrophysiological study of social and nonsocial orienting in children at-risk for ASD, A.Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Behavioral cues as triggers for aggression in Drosophila melanogaster.Research Director: Dr. Edward A. Kravitz

• Characterizing transcriptional regulation of the DYT6 dystonia gene, THAP1.Research Director: Dr. Cristopher Bragg

• Clinical and neuropsychological correlates of diffusion tensor imaging indices in first-episode schizophrenia.Research Director: Dr. Martha E. Shenton

• Discovering The Development Of The Blood Brain Barrier: Visualizing Gene Expression.Research Director: Dr. Chenghua Gu

• Early detection of Preclinical Alzheimer’s disease with the Face Name Associative Memory Exam.Research Director: Dr. Dorene M. Rentz

• Effect of Striatal Deep-Brain Stimulation on Cognitive Recovery After Traumatic Brain Injury, The .Research Director: Dr. Emad Eskandar

• Effects of Early Institutionalization on Emotional Face Processing, The .Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Effects of Soluble Amyloid-β[beta] Peptides on Transmission and Plasticity in the Hippocampus.Research Director: Dr. Venkatesh N. Murthy

• Exploring Multisensory Facilitation Using Functional Connectivity MRI in Humans.Research Director: Dr. Randy Lee Buckner

• Fish food: neuromodulatory systems involved with feeding behaviors in larval zebrafish.Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

• Investigating the fidelity of axolotl forebrain regeneration.Research Director: Dr. Jeffrey Macklis

• Investigating the role of the lateral habenula in reinforcement learning.Research Director: Dr. Naoshige Uchida

• Mapping the Brain’s Connections to Midbrain Dopamine Neurons Using Modified Rabies Virus in Transgenic Mice.Research Director: Dr. Naoshige Uchida

• Meditate to Create: A Neurobiological View on the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Creativity.Research Director: Dr. Sara Lazar

• Neuro-Development in Post-Fontan Adolescents.Research Director: Dr. Michael J. Rivkin

• Observational Learning of Complex Procedural Tasks in Octopus Vulgaris.Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

• Oncogenic Properties of an Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutant in Glioblastoma Multiforme.Research Director: Dr. Matthew Meyerson

• Optogenetic control of hippocampal oscillations.Research Director: Dr. Sydney Cash

• Organization of Retinal Ganglion Cell Axons in Larval Zebrafish.Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

• Role of ionic zinc in neuronal cell death and regeneration after axonal injury, The.Research Director: Dr. Larry I. Benowitz

• Role of Posttranslational Modifications in the Regulation of the Stability and Function of the Survival of Motor Neuron Protein in Response to Oxidative Stress, The .Research Director: Dr. Lee L. Rubin

• Role of RalA and RalB in the Mammalian Hippocampus.Research Director: Dr. Thomas L. Schwarz

• Sensitivity of the Human Circadian Clock to Phase-Resetting Stimuli: Interactions of Melatonin, Light, and Sleep.Research Director: Dr. Elizabeth B. Klerman

• Spatial memory development: a behavioral and electrophysiological study.Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• TorsinA assists in the folding and secretion of wild-type α1-antitrypsin.Research Director: Dr. Xandra O. Breakefield

• Unified Model for a Functional Algorithm Underlying Behaviors of the Cerebellum and Cerebellum-Like Structures, A .Research Director: Dr. Florian Engert

• Vascular, Astrocyte, and Microglial Involvement in Cerebral Malaria.Research Director: Dr. Ryan Carroll

• Visualizing the functional integration of newborn granule cells in the adult mouse olfactory bulb by long-term in vivo imaging.Research Director: Dr. Venkatesh N. Murthy

Click here for the .pdf containing the full 2012 Neurobiology Thesis Abstracts

• Aberrant development of parvalbumin inhibitory circuits underlies cortical dysfunction in Rett Syndrome. Research Director: Dr. Michela Fagiolini

• Abnormalities in Neural Structures of Attention and their Relation to Impaired Social and Role Functioning in Schizophrenia.Research Director: Dr. Christine Hooker

• Alterations in Excitatory Input to Retinal Ganglion Cells in DBA/2J Glaucoma and Optic Nerve Crush Mouse Models.Research Director: Dr. Tatjana Jakobs

• BTC family proteins as critical controls over cortical projection neuron development.Research Director: Dr. Jeffrey Macklis

• Contribution of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor to the generation and maintenance of inflammatory pain, The.Research Director: Dr. Clifford Woolf

• Development of the Implicit Learning Mechanism in Children: An fMRI Study.Research Director: Dr. Margaret Sheridan

• Directed Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Hypothalamic Arcuate Nucleus Neurons.Research Director: Dr. Chad Cowan

• Downstream effects of mTOR hyperactivation in Tsc2-deficient neurons increase Eph receptor degradation.Research Director: Dr. Mustafa Sahin

• Dreaming hinders overnight motor skill improvement in extended learning while high-frequency spindle activity predicts such improvement in the short-term.Research Director: Dr. Robert Stickgold

• Effect of Firing State on Gap Junction Strength in the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus, The.Research Director: Dr. Carole Landisman

• Emotional Experiences during Motor Task Acquisition and their Relationship to Sleep-Dependent Learning, Task-Related Dreaming, and Sleep Architecture.Research Director: Dr. Robert Stickgold

• Epigenetic Pathways in Zebrafish Hair Cell Regeneration.Research Director: Dr. Zheng-Yi Chen

• Evidence for Neuroplasticity after Neurocognitive Training in Individuals At‐Risk for Developing Psychosis.Research Director: Dr. Christine Hooker

• Examining the Role of the mu-crystallin gene Crym in oxidative stress metabolism and connectivity in the CNS.Research Director: Dr. Paola Arlotta

• Exploring the brain’s potential for an immune response to metastases.Research Director: Dr. Lois Lampson

• How Abstractions Affect Image Discrimination in Monkeys.Research Director: Dr. Margaret Livingstone

• Identifying Neural Substrates of GSK-3 Involved in Neuroplasticity and Mood Regulation.Research Director: Dr. Stephen J. Haggarty

• Improving Detection of fMRI-based Brain Activity in Addiction Networks: Methods and Application to Nicotine Addiction.Research Director: Dr. Anne Eden Evins

• Influence of the Median Raphe on Hippocampal Theta Oscillations as Revealed by Electrophysiology and Optogenetics, The.Research Director: Dr. Bernat Kocsis

• Investigating the use of Electroencephalography (EEG) as a diagnostic tool in the predictor of ADHD in early childhood.Research Director: Dr. Margaret Sheridan

• Investigation of Bilateral Innervation by the Facial Nerve on the Interscutularis Muscle.Research Director: Dr. Jeff W. Lichtman

• Maternal separation effects in GABA-deficient GAD65 KO mice.Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

• Neural responses to facial expressions of emotion: A comparison study in three developmental populations.Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• NKCC1 Expression on Oligodendrocytes During Development and Following Perinatal Hypoxia-Ischemia: Conferring Vulnerability to Periventricular Leukomalacia?.Research Director: Dr. Frances E. Jensen

• Novel model of social defeat: The divergent effects of lithium, valproic acid, and resveratrol in Drosophila melanogaster.Research Director: Dr. Edward A. Kravitz

• Optical control of behavior in the trained mouse: Neuronal processing examined through psychometric slope and reaction time.Research Director: Dr. John Maunsell

• Quantitative behavioral analysis of central brain circuits for light avoidance in Drosophila larvae.Research Director: Dr. Aravi Samuel

• Searching for molecular markers of feedback neurons in mouse visual cortex.Research Director: Dr. Richard T. Born

• Significance of the putative dsRNA transporter SidT2 in mammalian behavior.Research Director: Dr. Craig P. Hunter

• Sleep and ecological memory.Research Director: Dr. Robert Stickgold

• Sleep and Motor Memory.Research Director: Dr. Robert Stickgold

• Study of ERP response in word recognition by toddlers at risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders.Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Studying the role of the striatum in a DARPP-32 Tsc1 mouse model of autism.Research Director: Dr. Mustafa Sahin

• Transdifferentiation of Nociceptive Neurons from Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts.Research Director: Dr. Clifford Woolf

• Using Brain Electrical Source Analysis (BESA) to Localize Areas of Development of Face Processing in Infants at Risk for Developing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).Research Director: Dr. Charles A. Nelson

• Visual Function in the Neuroligin-3 R451C Autism Mouse Model.Research Director: Dr. Michela Fagiolini

• Weight of Reward: The Neurobiology of Deception.Research Director: Dr. Joshua Greene

• Why Plasticity Matters: The Effects of Music Exposure during a “Critical Period” of Anxiety Circuit Development.Research Director: Dr. Takao Hensch

Honors & Theses

The Honors Thesis: An opportunity to do innovative and in-depth research.  

An honors thesis gives students the opportunity to conduct in-depth research into the areas of government that inspire them the most. Although, it’s not a requirement in the Department of Government, the honors thesis is both an academic challenge and a crowning achievement at Harvard. The faculty strongly encourages students to write an honors thesis and makes itself available as a resource to those students who do. Students work closely with the thesis advisor of their choice throughout the writing process. Approximately 30% of Government concentrators each year choose to write a thesis.

Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government  

You undoubtedly have many questions about what writing a thesis entails. We have answers for you. Please read  A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Government , which you can download as a PDF below. If you still have questions or concerns after you have read through this document, we encourage you to reach out to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Nara Dillon ( [email protected] ), the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Gabriel Katsh ( [email protected] ), or the Undergraduate Program Manager, Karen Kaletka ( [email protected] ).