Anthony Zador
Professor
The Alle Davis and Maxine Harrison Professor of Neurosciences
M.D., Ph.D., Yale University, 1994
zador@cshl.edu | 516-367-6950
My lab studies how circuitry in the brain gives rise to complex behaviors, one of nature’s great mysteries. 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.
Anthony Zador and colleagues study how brain circuitry gives rise to complex behavior. Work in the lab is focused on two main areas. First, they ask how the cortex processes sound, how that processing is modulated by attention, and how it is disrupted in neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism. Recently, the lab found that when a rat makes a decision about a sound, the information needed to make the decision is passed to a particular subset of neurons in the auditory cortex whose axons project to a structure called the striatum. In the second major line of work in the Zador lab, they are developing new methods for determining the complete wiring instructions of the mouse brain at single-neuron resolution, which they term the “Connectome.” In contrast to previous methods, which make use of microscopy, these methods exploit high-throughput DNA sequencing. Because the costs of DNA sequencing are plummeting so rapidly, these methods have the potential to yield the complete wiring diagram of an entire brain for just thousands of dollars.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 2022 Ph.D.’s
May 1, 2022
The School of Biological Sciences awarded Ph.D. degrees to ten students this year. Here are some stories and memories from their time at CSHL.
CSHL and Veranome partner to accelerate brain mapping tech
January 18, 2022
CSHL Professor Anthony Zador and Veranome Biosystems are collaborating to improve brain mapping technology using engineering solutions.
Did you hear the one about the swimming worm?
December 28, 2021
CSHL NeuroAI scholars combine artificial intelligence (AI) with neuroscience. One scholar developed an AI program for worm locomotion.
Why AI needs a genome
December 21, 2021
AI could learn and adapt like humans with algorithms that work like genes.
Building on 150 years of neuroanatomy
October 7, 2021
Learn more about how researchers reached a milestone in a years-long effort to catalog the cells of the human, mouse, and monkey brains.
Think a census of humans is hard? Try counting their brain cells!
October 6, 2021
CSHL researchers and other collaborators reached a milestone in a years-long effort to catalog the cells of the human, mouse, and monkey brains.
Diagramming the brain with colorful connections
May 10, 2021
CSHL scientists developed a new tool that identifies brain cell types and traces their connections.
CSHL Association holds its annual meeting
January 29, 2021
The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Association welcomes four new directors and thanks three retiring ones.
NIH BRAIN Initiative invests $9.7 million in CSHL scientists
December 29, 2020
CSHL scientists received grants to broaden our knowledge of the human brain and how to treat neurological disorders.
NeuroAI program connects AI experts with neuroscientists
November 2, 2020
The CSHL NeuroAI program is training researchers to be fluent in neuroscience and AI to expedite the development of next-generation AI.
All Publications
Cellular anatomy of the mouse primary motor cortex.
Oct 2021 | Nature | 598(7879):159-166
Muñoz-Castañeda, Rodrigo, Zingg, Brian, Matho, Katherine, Chen, Xiaoyin, Wang, Quanxin, Foster, Nicholas, Li, Anan, Narasimhan, Arun, Hirokawa, Karla, Huo, Bingxing, Bannerjee, Samik, Korobkova, Laura, Park, Chris, Park, Young-Gyun, Bienkowski, Michael, Chon, Uree, Wheeler, Diek, Li, Xiangning, Wang, Yun, Naeemi, Maitham, Xie, Peng, Liu, Lijuan, Kelly, Kathleen, An, Xu, Attili, Sarojini, Bowman, Ian, Bludova, Anastasiia, Cetin, Ali, Ding, Liya, Drewes, Rhonda, D'Orazi, Florence, Elowsky, Corey, Fischer, Stephan, Galbavy, William, Gao, Lei, Gillis, Jesse, Groblewski, Peter, Gou, Lin, Hahn, Joel, Hatfield, Joshua, Hintiryan, Houri, Huang, Junxiang, Kondo, Hideki, Kuang, Xiuli, Lesnar, Philip, Li, Xu, Li, Yaoyao, Lin, Mengkuan, Lo, Darrick, Mizrachi, Judith, Mok, Stephanie, Nicovich, Philip, Palaniswamy, Ramesh, Palmer, Jason, Qi, Xiaoli, Shen, Elise, Sun, Yu-Chi, Tao, Huizhong, Wakemen, Wayne, Wang, Yimin, Yao, Shenqin, Yuan, Jing, Zhan, Huiqing, Zhu, Muye, Ng, Lydia, Zhang, Li, Lim, Byung, Hawrylycz, Michael, Gong, Hui, Gee, James, Kim, Yongsoo, Chung, Kwanghun, Yang, X, Peng, Hanchuan, Luo, Qingming, Mitra, Partha, Zador, Anthony, Zeng, Hongkui, Ascoli, Giorgio, Josh Huang, Z, Osten, Pavel, Harris, Julie, Dong, Hong-Wei
Assessing the replicability of spatial gene expression using atlas data from the adult mouse brain.
19 Jul 2021 | PLoS Biology | 19(7):e3001341
Lu, Shaina, Ortiz, Cantin, Fürth, Daniel, Fischer, Stephan, Meletis, Konstantinos, Zador, Anthony, Gillis, Jesse
Standardized and reproducible measurement of decision-making in mice.
20 May 2021 | eLife | 10
International Brain Laboratory, Aguillon-Rodriguez, Valeria, Angelaki, Dora, Bayer, Hannah, Bonacchi, Niccolo, Carandini, Matteo, Cazettes, Fanny, Chapuis, Gaelle, Churchland, Anne, Dan, Yang, Dewitt, Eric, Faulkner, Mayo, Forrest, Hamish, Haetzel, Laura, Häusser, Michael, Hofer, Sonja, Hu, Fei, Khanal, Anup, Krasniak, Christopher, Laranjeira, Ines, Mainen, Zachary, Meijer, Guido, Miska, Nathaniel, Mrsic-Flogel, Thomas, Murakami, Masayoshi, Noel, Jean-Paul, Pan-Vazquez, Alejandro, Rossant, Cyrille, Sanders, Joshua, Socha, Karolina, Terry, Rebecca, Urai, Anne, Vergara, Hernando, Wells, Miles, Wilson, Christian, Witten, Ilana, Wool, Lauren, Zador, Anthony
Integrating barcoded neuroanatomy with spatial transcriptional profiling enables identification of gene correlates of projections.
10 May 2021 | Nature Neuroscience
Sun, Yu-Chi, Chen, Xiaoyin, Fischer, Stephan, Lu, Shaina, Zhan, Huiqing, Gillis, Jesse, Zador, Anthony
BARcode DEmixing through Non-negative Spatial Regression (BarDensr).
Mar 2021 | PLoS Computational Biology | 17(3):e1008256
Chen, Shuonan, Loper, Jackson, Chen, Xiaoyin, Vaughan, Alex, Zador, Anthony, Paninski, Liam
Corticostriatal Plasticity Established by Initial Learning Persists after Behavioral Reversal.
Mar 2021 | eNeuro | 8(2):1-10
Ghosh, Sanchari, Zador, Anthony
BRICseq Bridges Brain-wide Interregional Connectivity to Neural Activity and Gene Expression in Single Animals.
23 Dec 2020 | Cell | 183(7):2040
Huang, Longwen, Kebschull, Justus, Fürth, Daniel, Musall, Simon, Kaufman, Matthew, Churchland, Anne, Zador, Anthony
Identification of a brainstem locus that inhibits tumor necrosis factor
24 Nov 2020 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA | 117(47):29803-29810
Kressel, A, Tsaava, T, Levine, Y, Chang, E, Addorisio, M, Chang, Q, Burbach, B, Carnevale, D, Lembo, G, Zador, A, Andersson, U, Pavlov, V, Chavan, S, Tracey, K
Replicability of spatial gene expression atlas data from the adult mouse brain
17 Oct 2020 | BioRxiv
Lu, Shaina, Ortiz, Cantin, Fürth, Daniel, Fischer, Stephan, Meletis, Konstantinos, Zador, Anthony, Gillis, Jesse
Cellular Anatomy of the Mouse Primary Motor Cortex
2 Oct 2020 | BioRxiv
Muñoz-Castañeda, Rodrigo, Zingg, Brian, Matho, Katherine, Wang, Quanxin, Chen, Xiaoyin, Foster, Nicholas, Narasimhan, Arun, Li, Anan, Hirokawa, Karla, Huo, Bingxing, Bannerjee, Samik, Korobkova, Laura, Park, Chris, Park, Young-Gyun, Bienkowski, Michael, Chon, Uree, Wheeler, Diek, Li, Xiangning, Wang, Yun, Kelly, Kathleen, An, Xu, Attili, Sarojini, Bowman, Ian, Bludova, Anastasiia, Cetin, Ali, Ding, Liya, Drewes, Rhonda, D’Orazi, Florence, Elowsky, Corey, Fischer, Stephan, Galbavy, William, Gao, Lei, Gillis, Jesse, Groblewski, Peter, Gou, Lin, Hahn, Joel, Hatfield, Joshua, Hintiryan, Houri, Huang, Jason, Kondo, Hideki, Kuang, Xiuli, Lesnar, Philip, Li, Xu, Li, Yaoyao, Lin, Mengkuan, Liu, Lijuan, Lo, Darrick, Mizrachi, Judith, Mok, Stephanie, Naeemi, Maitham, Nicovich, Philip, Palaniswamy, Ramesh, Palmer, Jason, Qi, Xiaoli, Shen, Elise, Sun, Yu-Chi, Tao, Huizhong, Wakemen, Wayne, Wang, Yimin, Xie, Peng, Yao, Shenqin, Yuan, Jin, Zhu, Muye, Ng, Lydia, Zhang, Li, Lim, Byung, Hawrylycz, Michael, Gong, Hui, Gee, James, Kim, Yongsoo, Peng, Hanchuan, Chuang, Kwanghun, Yang, William, Luo, Qingming, Mitra, Partha, Zador, Anthony, Zeng, Hongkui, Ascoli, Giorgio, Huang, Josh, Osten, Pavel, Harris, Julie, Dong, Hong-Wei