Join us in San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 10–23, 2027, for an intensive two-week course exploring how connectomes can be used to understand and simulate brain function. Participants will combine lectures with hands-on computational training in Drosophila connectome analysis, neural modeling, graph algorithms, and brain simulation, followed by an independent research project during the second week. The course is designed for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty with Python experience, with outstanding undergraduates also encouraged to apply.

September 23, 2026. Institute of Neurobiology students participated in the Lilly R&D Talent Development Activity (TDA) at the Molecular Sciences Research Center. Lilly’s TDA offers graduate students opportunities to work on research projects within Lilly’s R&D organization. Students gain experience with pharmaceutical research, collaborate with Lilly scientists, and learn how their scientific training can contribute to the development of new medicines. The program also helps students explore careers in industry and build professional connections.

9.1.2026. Congratulations to Dr. Cristina Velázquez-Marrero who was recently awarded a Catalyzer Grant from the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust (PRSTRT). Her project explores how a single episode of adolescent alcohol exposure affects fear extinction memory. Dr. Velázquez-Marrero is a professor and principal investigator at the Insitute of Neurobiology, and holds a joint faculty appointment at UMass Chan Medical School. Congratulations to the Velázquez-Marrero group! 

September 1, 2026. The Institute of Neurobiology family mourns the passing of Dr. Alberto Rivera Rentas. Dr. Rivera Rentas received his Ph.D. from the University of Puerto Rico in 1996. Under the supervision of Dr. Gladys Escalona at the Institute, his doctoral research examined the effects of neurotoxins on ion channels.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Andrew Seeds has received a Catalyzer Research Grant from the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust for the project "How somatotopic circuits generate spatially aimed grooming behavior". Congratulations, Dr. Seeds!

#Neuroscience #Drosophila #NeuralCircuits #Behavior #PuertoRicoScience #INB #UPRMSCseeds

Drs. Stefanie Hampel and Andrew Seeds of the Institute of Neurobiology will both be teaching at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory summer course on Drosophila Neurobiology! Alexa Negron, a student in the Seeds lab, will also be attending.

May 28, 2026. The COBRE Center for Neuroplasticity co-sponsored a seminar by Dr. Camille Rullán Buxó, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard University. The seminar was entitled: Uncertainty and the Brain: A Computational Approach.