As we look back on 2023, we would like to thank the faculty, trainees, staff, and leadership at Rutgers for helping BHI have a productive and eventful year! In 2024, we look forward to celebrating BHI’s Tenth Year Anniversary with many exciting events and activities!  

BHI hosted the Postdoc Recruitment Event on November 29-30. Eighteen outstanding postdoc candidates selected from more than 120 applications attended the event. The candidates gave talks, met neuroscience faculty and trainees from across Rutgers, and attended the Ninth Annual BHI Symposium. A post-event survey showed that the candidates were very impressed by the opportunities for furthering their training at Rutgers. Several candidates are currently considering joining Rutgers. BHI plans to host another recruitment event next Fall.

The Ninth Annual BHI Symposium was held on November 30 at the Douglass Student Center in New Brunswick. This year, more than 275 faculty, trainees, and staff attended the symposium (a new record!). The symposium featured talks by Rutgers faculty, a keynote speech by Dr. Michael Shadlen, and poster presentations by students and postdocs. Awards were given to the top three posters. The BHI Strategic Planning Committee, led by Dr. Chiara Manzini, also held a "Brainstorming for Brain Health" session, and we received valuable inputs for developing BHI's Strategic Plan. We want to express our gratitude to all those who attended the symposium, and we look forward to seeing you all at the Tenth Annual BHI Symposium next year!

The mission of the new working group is to foster and nurture a scholarly postdoctoral and trainee community primed for training and research excellence in neuroscience. The working group aims to engage Rutgers neuroscience postdocs and trainees in BHI activities, promote ‘grassroots’ collaborations between labs, and identify, reinforce, and build a collaborative Rutgers neuroscience postdoc and trainee community.

Dr. Suchismita Ray, Associate Professor at Rutgers School of Health Professions and Regular Member at BHI, is the lead author of the pilot study published in Explore “Mindfulness-oriented recovery enhancement in opioid use disorder: Extended emotional regulation and neural effects and immediate effects of guided meditation in a pilot sample”. The study is the first to evaluate the potential neural changes that underlie women’s emotion regulation and craving after an eight-week MORE intervention.

The Busch Biomedical Grant program has announced thirteen award recipients for 2023, totaling $780,000 across Rutgers Health, Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick campuses. Congratulations to BHI Members, Mark Rossi, Philip Parker, Stella Elkabes, Loren Runnels, and Elizabeth Tricomi.

Dr. Hoda Gebril, Assistant Research Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and collaborators from Department of Neurosurgery published a new paper, "Developmental and foliation changes due to dysregulation of adenosine kinase in the cerebellum", in Scientific Reports. The data demonstrates that dysregulation of ADK expression during brain development profoundly affects brain growth and differentiation.

BHI Core faculty and co-director of BHI’s Center for Computational and Cognitive Neuropsychiatry (CCNP), Dr. Anna Konova and her research group recently published a study in Biological Psychiatry. The study explores a model of context-dependent valuation, shedding light on its implications for understanding addiction and vulnerable addiction states in individuals with human opioid addiction.

The New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence (NJACE) at BHI’s CSH-RUCARES announces funding opportunities for two $150,000 seed grants. One seed grant will support interdisciplinary research that will form the basis of a future federal center or multiple principal investigator grant. The second seed grant will support an interdisciplinary training grant that will form the basis of a future large federal interdisciplinary training grant. 

The newly established Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at BHI will serve as a hub for collaboration, innovation, and transformative research, with the mission of making meaningful strides in the prevention, diagnosis, and care of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD). If you are interested in learning more or collaborating with the center, please submit the form to provide your contact information.

Auditory Neuroscience Research Initiative (RANRI)

The BHI and the Dept. of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, RWJMS are recruiting a tenured or tenure track faculty member at the Associate or Full Professor level to expand our research portfolio in auditory neuroscience, broadly defined to include animal- or human subjects-based research programs. The successful candidate must have a PhD, MD, or equivalent doctoral degree as well as a research program with currently active federal funding addressing key questions regarding auditory neuroscience.

Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center

The Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at BHI seeks a neuroimaging leader for a tenure-track position at the Associate or Full Professor level, a board-certified geriatric psychiatrist with clinical experience in caring for persons with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, and a neuropsychologist with a research career devoted to the neuropsychology of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.

Rutgers Addiction Research Center (RARC)

The BHI, RARC, and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Department of Emergency Medicine are recruiting a tenure-track faculty member at the Associate or Assistant Professor level with expertise in addiction, substance use, or overdose. We are particularly interested in candidates with research programs in opioid and/or alcohol addiction.

Rutgers Center for Autism Research, Education and Services (RUCARES)

The BHI, RUCARES, and Department of Pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) are seeking a tenure-track assistant or associate professor for a clinical research program focused on improving interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder. 

Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research (CAHBIR)

The CAHBIR is recruiting for multiple faculty positions at all levels (Assistant/Associate/ Professor). We seek investigators who use innovative MRI approaches to image human brain structure and function. Individuals who utilize additional approaches such as EEG, tDCS, and rTMS to study human brain function would also be attractive.