Year: 2025

CNCM Public Outreach Evening Event (08/19/2025)

The UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM) invites you to attend The Art of Science, a special ticketed event held in conjunction with our Center conference  “The Changing Brain,“  with both taking place at the Irvine Marriott (18000 Von Karman Ave, Irvine, CA 92612).  For the Conference, we have about 400 attendees with world-class brain science leaders and investigators from 104 academic institutions and 16 industrial organizations in the U.S. and internationally.

The CNCM, in collaboration with the UCI Medical Humanities & Arts Program and Pacific Symphony Heartstrings, is hosting this public evening event celebrating the intersection of art and science.  The event will feature top brain scientists, artists, performers, and talks from field professionals to highlight the powerful intersection between artistic expression and scientific discovery. Attendees will get the opportunity to connect with one another and explore the ways in which biomedical research and arts work together to foster community and innovation.

The Art of Science is designed to bring together people from different backgrounds to celebrate the intersection of art and science. It also serves as an outreach event for middle/high school and college students, as well as members of the general public with non-neuroscience backgrounds. As part of the program, Pacific Symphony will present a 30-minute performance by a string quartet, highlighting music from their Music Therapy program.

To learn more about our event, here are some useful links:

If you would like to learn more about the center, you may visit the links below:

Achieving the ‘unachievable’: Doctoral student credits colleagues and donors for his development as neuroscientists

“I am surrounded by extremely talented researchers who have been pure gold in my development as a neuroscientist,” says Max Garduño, who’s working on a doctorate in that field at UC Irvine. “I wouldn’t be here without the amazing donors who are investing in researchers like me and my fellow graduate students.” Steve Zylius / UC Irvine

At the intersection of opportunity, concern, passion and innovation lies the story of Bernardo Maximiliano “Max” Garduño, a neuroscience graduate student in the lab of Xiangmin Xu in UC Irvine’s Center for Neural Circuit Mapping. A rising young investigator, Garduño is focusing his doctoral research on natural animal models for Alzheimer’s disease.

Today, Garduño’s research with degus holds great promise for future therapies and deepening our understanding of how Alzheimer’s progresses. While mice are commonly used in AD research, they do not naturally exhibit the disease’s characteristics. They rely on genetic modifications that don’t fully replicate human AD. Garduño focuses on Chilean degus because they naturally present numerous neuropathologies associated with AD, including beta-amyloid plaques, tau tangles and cognitive deficits. The extended lifespan of degus (up to nine years compared to about two for mice) allows age-related AD-like deficits to manifest more authentically.

Read the full UC Irvine article here

UC Irvine Researchers Contribute to New Toolkit for Battling Brain Disorders

Brain endothelial cells (BEC) targeted by a BEC-enhancer AAV vector tool, developed by the Xu Lab and the Center for Neural Circuit Mapping team. Viral labeling (green) overlaps with endothelial cells (magenta) and protein markers for brain blood vessels (blue).

The National Institutes of Health is funding research to develop a set of gene delivery systems for cells in the brain and spinal cord as part of its Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. This initiative has supported the Armamentarium for Precision Brain Cell Access, a consortium of researchers creating next-generation biological tools for battling brain disorders.

New studies stemming from the Armamentarium consortium outline findings that advance tools based on Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors. An announcement about the work explains how an AAV “acts like a shuttle capable of transporting specially designed DNA into the cell.”

Two of the studies on these AAV tools were conducted by collaborative teams organized by Xiangmin Xu, PhD, UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor of anatomy and neurobiology and director of the campus’s Center for Neural Circuit Mapping.

“This Armamentarium’s collection of work enables new tools that help to deepen our understanding of the human central nervous system structure and function,” says Xu. “Our own brain-targeting technology could help treat Alzheimer’s disease and many other neurological disorders.”

Read the full UCI School of Medicine article here

New Publication Alert: Advancing Neural Circuit Mapping Through Viral-genetic Tool Development

We are excited to share our latest research publication in Cell Reports Methods: “An AAV capsid proposed as microglia-targeting directs genetic expression in forebrain excitatory neurons” Read the full article here »

A newly developed capsid AAV-MG1.2 was reported to mediate specific microglial transduction. However, we find that AAV-MG1.2 actually enables specific genetic access to excitatory neurons in forebrain regions including hippocampal formation and visual cortex but does not confer expression in microglia or astrocytes in vivo. Furthermore, we find that AAV-MG1.2 specifically labels the deep layer of the CA1 pyramidal layer in a titer-dependent manner. We show that AAV-MG1.2-Cre can be used to genetically target excitatory neurons for cell-type-specific neural circuit mapping studies. We also find that AAV-MG1.2 conserves specificity for excitatory neurons in rat hippocampus. Thus, the AAV-MG1.2 presents a useful viral-genetic tool for targeting excitatory neurons in the forebrain across different species.

We’re proud of the contributions of our team and collaborators and look forward to the continued impact of this innovative approach on the neuroscience community.

5 Days Left! Register Now for the 2025 Conference: ‘The Changing Brain’ – Deadline May 19, 2025

Please join us in our exciting in-person conference on “The Changing Brain,” co-sponsored by the UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM), Cajal Club and Allen Institute for Brain Science. The main conference will take place at the Irvine Marriott (08/18-08/20), and additional workshops/bootcamps on spatial transcriptomics and viral-genetic tools will be held on UCI campus (08/21).

Register Here

For more information, check out the conference website here: https://cncm.som.uci.edu/2025-cncm-conference/

Exciting Career Opportunity: Research Scientist & Postdoctoral Scholar Positions Available at the University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine (UCI) is currently seeking qualified candidates for multiple positions in its dynamic neuroscience research team. UCI’s Center for Neural Circuit Mapping and Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology have openings for Research Scientists and Postdoctoral Scholars to contribute to groundbreaking research in neural circuit mapping.

These positions provide an exceptional opportunity to work alongside leading experts in the field of neuroscience, contributing to cutting-edge research on brain function and neural circuits in health and disease. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to engage in multidisciplinary projects and collaborate with an international network of researchers.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Conduct independent and collaborative research on neural circuits and brain function.
  • Develop and implement new experimental techniques in neuroscience.
  • Contribute to scientific publications and presentations.

Qualifications:

  • PhD or equivalent in neuroscience, biology, or related fields.
  • Strong background in molecular neuroscience, neurophysiology, and experimental design.
  • Experience with animal models and various neurotechnological tools is preferred.

These positions offer competitive salaries, access to UCI’s world-class facilities, and opportunities for career development and mentorship.

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply by visiting the official listing here. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.

Don’t miss this chance to be part of one of the leading research teams in the field of neuroscience!

Registration is open for the 2025 Conference: ‘The Changing Brain’ – Deadline May 19, 2025

Please join us in our exciting in-person conference on “The Changing Brain,” co-sponsored by the UCI Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM), Cajal Club and Allen Institute for Brain Science. The main conference will take place at the Irvine Marriott (08/18-08/20), and additional workshops/bootcamps on spatial transcriptomics and viral-genetic tools will be held on UCI campus (08/21).

Register Here

For more information, check out the conference website here: https://cncm.som.uci.edu/2025-cncm-conference/