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Florin Albeanu, CSHL neuroscientist, is named a Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences

Florin Albeanu
Florin Albeanu
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Cold Spring Harbor, NY — Assistant Professor Florin Albeanu, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), has been named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. The Pew Scholars—22 including Albeanu were announced today—form a prestigious community that includes Nobel Prize winners, MacArthur Fellows, and recipients of the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award.

Albeanu, who came to CSHL as a Fellow in late 2008 and was appointed a member of the faculty in 2011, studies how the brain encodes stimuli from the outside world, within and across sensory modalities, to generate specific perceptions that, in turn, trigger complex behaviors.

He is interested in how the brain is shaped by sensory experience and what modifications occur in neuronal circuits that allow us to learn and remember. By recording neuronal activity in the input and output layers of the mouse olfactory bulb, as well as from higher olfactory cortical areas, Albeanu and his team aim to understand computations the bulb performs and how this information is decoded deeper in the brain.

“The faculty of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory join me in congratulating Dr. Florin Albeanu,” said Dr. Bruce Stillman, CSHL’s president. “Florin’s research is conceptually fresh and technically innovative and we look forward to the discoveries he will be making in the years ahead.”

Albeanu was awarded a B.S. by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001 and a Ph.D. by Harvard University in 2008. As a Pew Scholar he will receive $240,000 over four years to pursue research without restriction. To be considered, applicants from all areas of physical and life sciences related to biomedical study must be nominated by an invited institution and demonstrate both excellence and innovation in their research.

Launched in 1985, the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences identifies and invests in talented researchers in medicine or biomedical sciences. In that time, over 500 Pew Scholars have received more than $130 million in funding. By backing them early in their careers, the program enables the most promising scientists to take calculated risks and follow unanticipated leads to advance human health.

The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. It partners with a diverse range of donors, public and private organizations and concerned citizens who share its commitment to fact-based solutions and goal-driven investments to improve society.

Written by: Communications Department | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455

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About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,000 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. The Meetings & Courses Program annually hosts more than 12,000 scientists. The Laboratory’s education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a graduate school and the DNA Learning Center with programs for middle, high school, and undergraduate students and teachers. For more information, visit www.cshl.edu