Gina G. Turrigiano facts for kids

Gina G. Turrigiano is an American neuroscientist. A neuroscientist is a scientist who studies the brain and nervous system. She is a top professor at Brandeis University, where she holds the Levitan Chair of Vision Science.

Dr. Turrigiano is famous for her important discoveries about how our brains work. She studies how brain circuits can change and learn new things, but still stay stable and balanced. She and her team found ways the brain uses "homeostatic plasticity." This is like the brain's own automatic adjustment system.

Two key types of this adjustment she discovered are Synaptic scaling and intrinsic homeostatic plasticity. Synaptic scaling is like the brain turning up or down the volume of connections between brain cells (called synapses). This helps keep the brain's activity just right. Intrinsic homeostatic plasticity is about how individual brain cells adjust their own activity to stay balanced. These discoveries help us understand how our brains learn and adapt to new experiences.

Gina Turrigiano went to Reed College and earned her bachelor's degree. She then got her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego. She lives in Weston, MA with her husband, Sacha Nelson, who is also a neuroscientist. They have two children, Gabriel and Raphael.

Awards and Special Honors

Gina Turrigiano has received many important awards for her work. These awards show how much her research has helped us understand the brain.

• 2023 Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship, NINDS
• 2023 Vallee Visiting Professorship
• 2022 President, Society for Neuroscience
• 2018 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2015 Javitz Neuroscience Investigator Award
• 2013 Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences (USA)
• 2012 Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (USA)
• 2012 HFSP Nakasone Award
• 2007 NIH Directors Pioneer Award
• 2000 MacArthur Fellows Program
• 1996 National Institutes of Health Career Development Award
• 1996 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship

Her Published Works

Dr. Turrigiano has written more than 100 research articles about her work. These articles are published in scientific journals. You can find a full list of her publications online: Gina Turrigiano's Publications.