Release date: March 31, 2006
Contact: Beverly Cox Clark at 404-712-8780 or beverly.clark@emory.edu

Two Emory Neuroscientists Receive Sloan Foundation Fellowships

Emory University's Peng Jin, assistant professor of human genetics, and Astrid Prinz, assistant professor of biology and neuroscience, have been awarded Sloan Foundation Research Fellowships. They are among 116 young scientists and economists selected as 2006 Sloan Fellows, representing faculty from 55 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada who show the most outstanding promise of making fundamental contributions to new knowledge.

Peng Jin

Jin studies an important new class of small RNA molecules, first discovered less than a decade ago, called micro-RNAs (miRNAs). Unlike most RNAs, whose job is to translate the genetic code contained in DNA molecules into proteins, miRNAs do not "code" for proteins. Instead, scientists believe they play a critical role in controlling gene expression, cell differentiation and tissue development. Jin is studying the role of miRNAs in the brain, specifically in learning and memory, neurodegeneration and regulation of gene expression.

He plans to use his Sloan award to unravel the molecular pathogenesis of Fragile X syndrome, a commonly inherited form of mental retardation. His previous work has demonstrated the potential role of miRNA pathway in developing Fragile X syndrome. Using several new research tools that have been developed, he will continue to study how the alteration in miRNA pathway could be involved in the pathogenesis of Fragile X syndrome.

Astrid Prinz

Prinz's research combines experimental and computational methods to study pattern generation and homeostasis in small neural networks. Her model system is the stomatogastric ganglion in crustaceans, which is somewhat like a mini-brain that sits on the stomach of lobsters and crabs. It generates rhythmic nerve activity that governs stomach movements and helps the crustaceans chew up and digest food. The system is one of the best understood neural networks, and is an ideal model for pattern generation, which is the neural process that generates the type of rhythmic nerve activity that people need for periodic behaviors such as breathing, walking, swimming, chewing, etc.

Prinz plans to use her award to support her ongoing research. She is working to understand how cellular and synaptic properties shape the output of a neural network, and how neural circuits manage to function reliably in spite of ongoing molecular turn-over and developmental or environmental changes. The tools she uses to study these questions include standard electrophysiological recording techniques, hybrid network methods that couple biological and model neurons, and computational brute-force explorations of high-dimensional parameter spaces.

Sloan Research Fellowships

The Sloan Foundation Research Fellowships allow scientists to continue their research with awards of $45,000 over two years, and fellows are free to pursue whatever lines of inquiry are of most interest to them. Candidates for the fellowships are nominated by department chairs and other senior scholars. The fellowships were established in 1955 to provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars who are working to set up laboratories and establish their independent research projects. Previous Sloan Fellows include 34 Nobel Prize winners.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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