Research News
We are delighted to announce that Felipe Yáñez, a researcher in our “In Silico Brain Sciences” group led by Marcel Oberlaender, has been awarded the Kavli NeuroData Discovery Award by The Kavli Foundation. This prestigious award comes with a grant of $50,000 to support innovative analyses of existing neuroscience data.
Felipe's research tackles a fascinating and complex question in neuroscience: How do diverse inhibitory neurons in the brain contribute to its function? Inhibitory neurons, which make up about 15% of the neurons in the mammalian neocortex, display remarkable variety in their shapes and electrical properties—far exceeding that of the more abundant excitatory neurons. Understanding how the anatomical and physiological diversity relates to their molecular identity—the specific genes and proteins they express—is a key challenge in the field.
In his PhD research, Felipe discovered that variations in the shape and electrical behavior of inhibitory neurons at different depths of the cortex can reveal their molecular identity. This finding suggests that the diversity within a molecular class of inhibitory neurons arises not only from genetic differences but also from how these neurons develop and adapt over time—a process known as structural and functional plasticity.
With the Kavli NeuroData Discovery Award, Felipe plans to reanalyze existing neuroscience datasets formatted in the Neurodata Without Borders (NWB) standard. By applying innovative analytical methods to these datasets, he aims to drive new discoveries and accelerate fundamental neuroscience research. His work will demonstrate how secondary analysis of existing data can address questions beyond the scope of the original studies, highlighting the immense value of reexamining data to uncover new insights. Felipe will collaborate with researchers at MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research working on the BICAN Cell Atlas Knowledge project. Together, they aim to expand his findings to other species and areas of the cortex, ultimately assessing their applicability to the human brain. This collaborative effort embodies the goals of the Kavli NeuroData Discovery Award by promoting new approaches to data analysis that can propel the field forward.
We extend our sincere congratulations to Felipe Yáñez on this significant achievement and look forward to the valuable insights his research will bring to the scientific community.
