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In the first pair of videos, the neurons of mice given the anesthetic ketamine to induce signs of schizophrenia fired-off haphazardly (right), compared to the coordinated firing of neurons in the healthy mice (left). Researchers saw a similar pattern in mice genetically engineered to show signs of schizophrenia, with the neurons at right firing more intermittently.
In the world of evolutionary research, scientists studying the evolution of eusocial societies have traditionally relied on information gathered from studying terrestrial insects. A group of Columbia researchers, however, has just added to that knowledge base, publishing a new study that sheds light on how the complex social system evolved in the sea.
It isn’t just the important scientific research and art produced and exhibited at Columbia University’s new Manhattanville campus that will be cutting edge. From the outset, the 17-acre site in West Harlem was designed and built to be a model of sustainable architecture, urban design and clean construction practices.
Columbia has committed to investing more than $150 million in new benefits and services for our community through agreements with the West Harlem Development Corporation and Empire State Development, including more than $76 million to the local development corporation for uses determined by the community.
Last year, J. Thomas Vaughan joined Columbia as director of Magnetic Resonance Research, a new University-wide position. A pioneer in the field with 45 patents to his name, Vaughan designs and builds the MRI systems that produce high-resolution images of anatomical, metabolic and physiological systems and functions. His inventions, usually licensed by the biotech and medical industries, are found in most MRI systems.
To understand the workings of an enormously complex brain, it’s sometimes best to look at a simpler one. Rudy Behnia, whose research centers on vision, studies fruit flies for just that reason.
Columbia University chemist Xiaoyang Zhu has been named a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
Dear Campus Historian,
As the Jerome L. Greene Science Center and the Lenfest Center for the Arts open on Columbia’s Manhattanville campus, it is definitely worth glancing back to the beginnings of the Morningside Heights campus, which was dedicated almost 121 years ago.
When faced with planning the next phase of construction on Columbia’s Manhattanville campus, Marcelo Velez sometimes flips open his laptop and “walks” through a computer-generated 3-D model of the 17-acre building site. The technology is just one of many tools that helps Velez, vice president of Columbia’s Manhattanville Development Group, manage every aspect of construction of the University’s newest campus.
When Deborah Cullen joined Columbia in 2012, she was given an enviable task. As the new director and chief curator of the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, she would oversee its move from a set of rooms hidden away in Schermerhorn Hall for the past 30 years to an expansive, light-filled space in the new Lenfest Center for the Arts on the University’s Manhattanville campus.