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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/

UC Irvine-led study reveals new insights into how we navigate space and store memories

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 14, 2024 — Researchers led by the University of California, Irvine are the first to reveal how two neural circuits located in the brain’s retrosplenial cortex are directly linked to spatial navigation and memory storage. This discovery could lead to more precise medical treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders by allowing them to target pathway-specific neural circuits.

The study, recently published online in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, identified two types of RSC pathways, connected to different parts of the brain, each with its own pattern of inputs and functions.

“By demonstrating how specific circuits in the RSC contribute to different aspects of cognition, our findings provide an anatomical foundation for future studies and offer new insights into how we learn and remember the space around us,” said lead and co-corresponding author Xiangmin Xu, UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor of anatomy and neurobiology and director of the campus’s Center for Neural Circuit Mapping. “This is an important step in understanding how conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders affect particular regions of the brain, which will help to inform new approaches and treatments.”

Read the full article here

New U24 Grant for SCDPAIN: Focusing on CNS Mechanisms in Sickle Cell Pain

NIHs, National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health has awarded a five-year U24 grant of ~$5 million to create a Sickle Cell Disease Pain Analgesia and Integrative Network (SCDPAIN), an innovative, dynamic platform aimed at advancing research on pain mechanisms in sickle cell disease (SCD). Pain in SCD is unique due to its unpredictable and recurrent episodes of acute pain, in addition to chronic pain affecting the majority of individuals with SCD. In the United States, SCD primarily impacts African Americans and some Latino Americans.

This nationwide network (with global outreach) will profoundly influence the science of sickle cell pain through cutting-edge technological advancements and three major goals:
1) “Science without borders”
2) “Promoting the future”
3) “Hub to health.”

To achieve these goals, it will:
1) Build multidisciplinary research capacity to meet critical unmet needs of SCD pain
2) Incentivize novel initiatives through pilot funds
3) Catalyze the next generation of scientists to accelerate SCD pain research

This multi-PI U24 grant is led by Principal Investigator Kalpna Gupta, PhD, Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine; Susan Samueli Scholar at the Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute (SSIHI); and Professor at the School of Pharmacy at UCI. Gupta is a member of CNCM, with collaborative advancement for neural circuit mapping provided by Dr. Xiangmin Xu. Dr. Richard Harris from SSIHI, UCI, is a co-investigator on this grant.

Meeting report for the 2024 UC Irvine Center for neural circuit mapping conference: Brain cell types, circuits, and disorders

We are excited to share our latest publication in Molecular Psychiatry!

The University of California Irvine (UCI) Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM) held its 4th annual Summer Conference entitled “Brain Cell Types, Circuits, and Disorders” at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Science and Engineering in Irvine, California. Herein, we provide a Meeting Report highlighting the conference and the work of its attendees.

Check it out here.