Cold Spring Harbor, NY — Professor Anthony Zador of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has been selected by the editors of the prestigious journal Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2015.
Zador, a neuroscientist, is being recognized in the category of “Innovators,” for “testing the boundaries of the brain, our most powerful organ,” according to the journal. Others receiving “Top 100” honors in recent years have spanned the gamut of achievement, from Pope Francis to Angela Merkel to Elon Musk.
“My lab studies how circuitry in the brain gives rise to complex behaviors, one of nature’s great mysteries,” Zador says. “We study how the auditory cortex processes sound, and how this is interrupted in autism. We also seek to obtain a wiring diagram of the mouse brain at the resolution of individual neurons. Our unusual approach exploits cheap and rapid ‘next-gen’ gene sequencing technology.”
An M.D.-Ph.D. graduate of Yale University, Zador holds the position of Alle Davis Harris Professor of Biology at CSHL and is Program Chair in Neuroscience. His approach to studying the brain is one of the ”keys to what is driving change today,” write editors of the journal. He and other honorees “have demonstrated extraordinary innovation, passion, creativity, and thirst, and have translated their ideas into action, impacting millions worldwide.”
“It is a wonderful and unexpected honor to be named to this very impressive group by Foreign Policy,” Zador commented. “Advances in technology in recent years have greatly increased public awareness of research on the brain and cognitive processes. With colleagues in my lab and elsewhere, I’ve been very lucky, and also exhilarated, to be involved in research that is certain to unlock secrets about how our brains work and how they malfunction in illnesses ranging from schizophrenia, autism and depression to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.”
Zador and other honorees will take part in a public event marking their selection, to be held this afternoon in Washington, D.C. 2015 marks the 7th time editors of Foreign Policy have published a “Global Thinkers” special issue. The full list of honorees can be viewed at: http://2015globalthinkers.foreignpolicy.com
Written by: Communications Department | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455
About
Anthony Zador
Professor
The Alle Davis and Maxine Harrison Professor of Neurosciences
M.D., Ph.D., Yale University, 1994