Bernardo Sabatini, M.D., Ph.D.

Title: Alice and Rodman W. Moorhead III Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School; Co-Director of the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The Aim

The Sabatini Lab explores how brain connections support learning, behavior, and decision making.

The Impact

Learning to walk, to read, or to navigate a new city requires the brain to constantly revise its own wiring in response to experience. The Sabatini Lab uses advanced technologies to examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms that make this plasticity possible. Clarifying our understanding of the circuits that connect reward, motivation, and action could help develop new therapies for those living with Tourette's, OCD, and addiction.

A Closer Look

Article: Harvard Medicine Magazine, Fall 2018 – “Dream Machines” is a Harvard Medicine feature on HMS researchers building advanced imaging tools, like custom microscopes and tissue-clearing methods, to reveal hidden details of cells, brains, and tumors.

Article: Harvard Medical School News, August 2024 – “How Thyroid Hormone Fuels the Drive to Explore” reports on a study led by Dr. Bernardo Sabatini, which found that in mice, thyroid hormone rewires circuits in the cortex and adjusts metabolism to encourage exploring.

Contact

Email: bernardo_sabatini@hms.harvard.edu
Lab website: sabatini.hms.harvard.edu