It was thought that the neurotransmitter serotonin most likely acted by inhibiting behavior. Now, scientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown have shown that general idea to be wrong.

We had never seen an active behavior promoted by serotonin. This is, to my knowledge, the first time such a behavior has been observed when serotonin-producing neurons are activated. – Eran Lottem

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Who are today’s scientists? Inspired by the project “Humans of New York”, Ar Magazine turns the spotlight on individual humans of science every month.

Name: Hedi Young
Lab: Cortical Circuits Lab
Project: Patterns of long-range connectivity in the cortex

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Photo credit: Tor Stensola

Albino Oliveira-Maia has always navigated between medical practice and scientific research. In his opinion, these two worlds, which are still not talking to each other in a fluid manner, need others like him to bring them closer.

All things considered, my role may be to find links between medicine and science, to develop a model of proximity between these two domains. – Albino Oliveira-Maia

Can brain biology negatively affect an individual’s position in society? The answer seems to be yes – and Carmen Sandi’s work has shown that the mitochondria (the cell’s batteries) are an important player. Could this negative impact be reduced with drugs?

When we pharmacologically inhibited the activity of the mitochondria, the animals lost in social competitions. – Carmen Sandi

Many experts think that obesity is essentially the result of being hooked on food. But a new study reveals a much more complex reality.

We often hear that obesity ‘is like an addiction’. [But] food reward is not the main reason for obesity. Therefore, food addiction is not the whole story. – Albino Oliveira-Maia

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Learning and performance can be enhanced by locomotor activity in mice, concludes a new study. The scientists sought to understand the cellular changes in the cerebellum that accompany learning.

The finding could well apply to other forms of cerebellar learning in humans – Catarina Albergaria

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For decades the neuroscience community has been baffled by the existence of dense connections in the brain that seem to be going “backwards”. These connections, which span extensively across distant areas of the neocortex – the part of the brain responsible for higher cognitive functions – are clearly conveying important information. But until now, the organisation of the connections and therefore their possible role, was largely unknown.

Who are today’s scientists? Inspired by the project “Humans of New York”, Ar Magazine turns the spotlight on individual humans of science every month.

Name: Gautam Agarwal
Lab: Systems Neuroscience | Mainen Lab
Project: A video-game-based task to study complex skill-learning in an online population

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Among this year’s new members, there is just one scientist working in Portugal – and he is at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown.

Eduardo Moreno, from the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown (CCU), in Lisbon, is one of the 53 scientists to have been elected this year permanent members of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), this institution announced today (Monday, May 14th). He is the only new permanent member working in Portugal.

For years, Eduardo Moreno has been unraveling how competition for survival between cells in an organism plays out to make it develop healthily – or, as it ages, give rise to cancer and other diseases.

For me, [cell competition] was just natural selection at work inside the organism. – Eduardo Moreno

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