Director's note

Fall is a bittersweet time of the year. As nature heads into its big winter sleep, the days shorten, and the promise of the winter freeze hangs in the air. The paradox though, is that it is precisely this time of the year that sees our labs fill up again with the vibrancy of new students, new ideas, new hopes, and aspirations. Those cold dark days will yield rich datasets, new findings and insights, and hopefully great progress as we tackle the wicked problems of neuroscience.

Our cover story profiles a dynamic multidisciplinary team of scientists, including a molecular biologist, neurotologist, geneticist, neuroscientist, and vision scientist who are taking on the complexity of fragile X syndrome. Fragile X is the most common known cause of inherited intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism. Their research is pivotal to understanding this disorder and its response to targeted therapy.

We are delighted to introduce Dr. Emily Knight, our most recent Neuroscience faculty recruit. Emily excelled at the Medical Center as a fellow and is now an assistant professor of Neuroscience and Pediatrics.

The student spotlight shines on a fourthyear graduate student, MaKenna Cealie, who works in the Majewska Lab. She was recently awarded a highly competitive F31 grant from the National Institutes of Health for her work that takes a cellular approach to understanding fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

The impact of the work of our Neuroscience Diversity Commission continues to have major effect on our community. This summer, 11 students completed the second year of the NEUROCITY program. This partnership with City College of New York has resulted in students co-authoring papers and others enrolling in doctoral programs at the University of Rochester. Recently, the Commission launched the new postdoctoral speaking series, NEURO YES, designed to elevate and highlight early career investigators. Words cannot convey my pride and gratitude to all those who have developed, implemented, and now run these programs to create a pathway for historically marginalized groups.

I look forward to seeing many in our Neuroscience community at the Society for Neuroscience Conference in San Diego in November. I hope you are able to join us for one night as we host a social event to spark collaborations, reunite old friends, and celebrate the success of our alumni and colleagues.

In Science,