April 2024 – Jacqueline receives an NSF GRFP! Congratulations!

April 2024 – Cheyanne receives an Honorable Mention on her NSF application! Congratulations!

April 2024 – Julia speaks at The Sloan Kettering Institute and as part of PINS at Weill Cornell Medicine. Thank you to Alex and Betsy for being wonderful hosts!

March/April 2024 – Eric Zhao receives the Croucher Foundation fellowship and joins the lab as a joint postdoc with Zhenan Bao. Welcome Eric!

March 2024 – We say good-bye to Julieta and wish her the best of luck for all her new endeavors!

March 2024 – Adarsh, Jacqueline, Julia, Julieta, Keira and Lori present talks and posters at the 7^th International ENS Development Meeting in Philadelphia. Super organizers, great meeting!

March 2024 – New perspective published in CMGH on Enteric Nervous System Striped Patterning and Disease: Unexplored Pathophysiology. Congratulations Lori!

March 2024 - Julia speaks at the Inaugural Texas A&M University Neural-Gut Axis Symposium. Thank you to Lee, Cedric, Michelle and Farida for being wonderful hosts!

January/February 2024 – Julia and Sergio teach Neurosciences Development Core NEPR 202.

January 2024 – A collaborative CIRM grant with Faranak Fattahi (USCF) and Todd Coleman (Stanford) gets funded. Really excited to be part of this team!

January 2024 – Jack Marciano, Ph.D. student from the Neurosciences Program, starts his rotations in the lab. Welcome Jack!

November 2023 – A collaborative Craig H. Neilsen Foundation grant with Laren Becker and Leila Neshatian gets funded. Thanks for having us on the team!

November 2023 – New paper published in Frontiers in Neuroscience on Loss of ASD-related molecule Cntnap2 affects colonic motility in mice. Congratulations to all authors!

November 2023 – Jen presents a poster “Sall3 is Required for GABAergic Presynaptic Circuit Formation in the Mouse Spinal Cord” as part of the 2023 pre-SfN Motor Symposium in Washington, DC.

October 2023 – Julia gives a talk as part of the 10^th anniversary of the Developing Brains conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Thank you so much to the organizers and my wonderful host, Ulrika Marklund!

October 2023 – New paper published in Neurogastroenterology & Motility on Comparison of wholemount dissection methods for neuronal subtype marker expression in the mouse myenteric plexus. Congratulations to all authors!

October 2023 – Keira and Julieta present posters at the 10^th Annual Symposium of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

October 2023 – Gabby presents a poster “Vagal axon innervation of the mouse gastrointestinal tract during development” as part of the Minority Research Scholars Program at the Child Neurology Career Development Program K12 retreat.

October 2023 – Lingyi Zhang, Ph.D. student from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Lingyi!

September 2023 – We say good-bye to Ryan and wish him all the best for his endeavors!

August 2023 – Julia joins the Cellular and Molecular Biology Training Program.

August 2023 – Lori's work gets picked up by the Stanford Report and Tech Explorist.

August 2023 – Zinnia Saha joins the lab as a Life Science Research Professional. Welcome Zinnia!

August 2023 – Our R21 gets funded! Thank you to the NIH for their support!

June 2023 – Very many congratulations to Beatriz & Levi on their wedding!

June 2023 – Julieta presents a poster “Identifying synaptic cell adhesion molecule Cdh6 as a label and tool to manipulate sensory neurons in the mouse enteric nervous system” at the at the ChEM-H Chemistry/Biology Interface Training Program Retreat.

June 2023 – Gabby receives support from the Minority Research Scholar Program. Congratulations, Gabby!

June 2023 – We say good-bye to Beatriz and wish her the best of luck for all her new endeavors!

June 2023 – Shira Goldhaber-Gordon joins us for a summer internship. Welcome Shira!

May/June 2023 – Julieta spends some time in Nick Spencer’s lab at Flinders University in Adelaide. Thank you, Nick, so much for hosting her and for all the great science!

May 2023 – We are grateful to receive funding from the Iqbal Farrukh and Asad Jamal Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Developmental Projects grant program!

May 2023 – We are honored to receive funding from the Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) Transdisciplinary Initiatives Program together with Guosong Hong and Anca Pasca!

May 2023 – Keira presents a poster “A role for Gpr37 in inflammation-induced dysmotility in the enteric nervous system” at the 2023 Stanford School of Medicine Neuroscience Forum.

May 2023 – Cheyanne joins the lab!

May 2023 – Priyanka Patel joins us as an Undergraduate Summer Intern from Rice University. Welcome Priyanka!

May 2023 – Jacqueline joins the lab!

May 2023 – New paper published in Nature Communications on Anatomical and functional maturation of the mid-gestation human enteric nervous system. Congratulations to all authors!

April 2023 – Julia is a featured speaker at The XIX International Symposium for Neural Regeneration at Skamania Lodge in Washington. What a great Symposium!

April 2023 – New collaborative paper published in Nature Neuroscience on Single-cell transcriptomic landscape of the developing human spinal cord. Congratulations to all authors!

March 2023 – Jacqueline Bendrick and Cheyanne Lewis, Ph.D. students from the Neurosciences Program, start their rotations in the lab. Welcome Jacqueline and Cheyanne!

March 2023 – New collaborative paper published in Cell Reports on Single-cell multiome sequencing clarifies enteric glial diversity and identifies an intraganglionic population poised for neurogenesis. It was an honor to contribute! Congratulations to all authors!

February 2023 – New podcast published on Your gut - the second brain?.

January/February 2023 – Julia and Sergio teach Neurosciences Development Core NEPR 202.

January 2023 – Julia gives a seminar on “Mapping the “second brain”: development and organization of the enteric nervous system” at the Burke Neurological Institute. Thank you to Julia Kaiser and Vibhu Sahni for being wonderful hosts!

November 2022 – Beau, Adarsh, Lori and Julia attend SfN 2022, and Lori and Beau present posters!

November 2022 – Jen and Julia attend and present at the SfN Motor Symposium at The Salk. Fantastic meeting!

November 2022 – Julia attends the International Conference on Neural Tube Defects in Austin, TX. Thank you so much to Drs. Finnell, Ross, Lupo, Mazumdar and Zohn for organizing such a great conference!

October 2022 – New paper published in PLOS ONE on Transcription factor gene Pea3 regulates erectile function during copulation in mice. Congratulations to all authors!

October 2022 – Arwa Tahreem Faruk joins the lab as a Stanford undergraduate student. Welcome Arwa!

September 2022 – Ryan wins 3^rd place for his talk “Glutamatergic interneurons in intestinal motility” at Little Brain Big Brain 2022 in Heiligkreuztal, Germany. Congratulations Ryan!

September 2022 – New paper published in Current Biology on Regional cytoarchitecture of the adult and developing mouse enteric nervous system. Congratulations to all authors!

September 2022 – We are honored to receive a Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Seed Grant together with Guosong Hong and Andrew Mannix.

August 2022 – Congratulations to Ryan for winning an award at the Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Seed Grants Program Poster Session for his poster “Glutamatergic circuits control colonic motility”.

August 2022 – Julieta and Ryan present posters at the Stanford Bio-X Seed Grants Symposium and Poster Session.

August 2022 – Delighted to have Nick Spencer visit the lab! Great seminar and conversations.

July 2022 – Chelsea Li, MSTP student from the MD-PhD program, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Chelsea!

June 2022 – Harry Gardner joins the lab as a Life Science Research Professional. Welcome Harry!

June 2022 – Beau Oster joins us as an Undergraduate Visiting Research Intern from the Nevada ENDURE program. Welcome Beau!

June 2022 – Congratulations to Cole on starting medical school! We will miss you and wish you the very best!

June 2022 – Adarsh joins the lab!

May 2022 – Julia gives a zoom seminar on Mapping the “second brain”: development and organization of the enteric nervous system at the MIT's Simons Center for the Social Brain. Thank you, Polina Anikeeva, for being an amazing host!

April 2022 – Chelsea Nnebe, MSTP student in Suzanne Tharin's lab, will be co-advised by Julia.

April 2022 – We are hosting Daphne Yao, graduate science journalism student from Northwestern.

April 2022 – Suzanne Tharin and Julia receive a Neurosurgery Research Seed Grant. So grateful for the support and excited about this new interdisciplinary collaboration!

April 2022 – Adarsh Tantry, Ph.D. student from the Neurosciences Program, starts his rotation in the lab. Welcome Adarsh!

March 2022 – Gabby’s Neuroscience Scholar Track proposal was accepted! Congratulations Gabby!

March 2022 – Ryan gives a talk entitled “Glutamatergic circuits controlling gut motility” at the weekly Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Neurofeedback Seminar series.

February 2022 – Julia gives a seminar on “Mapping the “second brain”: development and organization of the enteric nervous system” as part of the Neuro Zoom talks.

January/February 2022 – Julia and Sergio teach Neurosciences Development Core NEPR.

December 2021 – We are honored to receive a Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) Pilot Grant together with Anca Pasca!

November 2021 – Lori gives a talk entitled “Development and patterning of the enteric nervous system” at the weekly Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Neurofeedback Seminar series.

November 2021 – Julia and Guosong Hong receive a Beckman Technology Development Seed Grant. So grateful for the support and excited about this new interdisciplinary collaboration!

October 2021 – New collaborative review published in genesis on Unraveling the complex genetics of neural tube defects: From biological models to human genomics and back. Congratulations to all authors!

August 2021 – Julieta talks about her gut feeling about neuroscience. 

August 2021 – Julia receives an Early Career Award from The Carol and Eugene Ludwig Family Foundation. We so appreciate the support!

July 2021 – New collaborative paper published in eNeuro on COUNTEN, an AI-Driven Tool for Rapid and Objective Structural Analyses of the Enteric Nervous System. Congratulations to all authors!

July 2021 – Great conversations with Subhash Kulkarni during his trip to the bay area! Looking forward to more collaborations.

July 2021 – Julia participates in the Stanford Neurosurgery “Summer of Neuroscience Student Program”.  See related article in AANS.

June 2021 – Julia becomes the next Firmenich Next Generation Faculty Scholar! Super honor!

June 2021 – New review published in Current Opinion in Physiology on Proprioception revisited: where do we stand?. Congratulations to Jen and Julieta!

May 2021 – Congratulations to Keira on passing her qualifying exam!

May 2021 – Ryan wins First Place Poster Award at Gastronauts Global 2021 for his poster  “A bird’s eye view of the mouse myenteric plexus”. Congratulations Ryan!

April 2021 – Julia gives a seminar on “Mapping the “second brain”: development and organization of the enteric nervous system” as part of the Stanford Medicine Basic Science Faculty Retreat.

March 2021 – Keira receives an Honorable Mention on her NSF application!

March 2021 – Julia gives a seminar on “Mapping the “second brain”: development and organization of the enteric nervous system” as part of the Stanford Regenerative Medicine Seminar Series.

February 2021 – New collaborative paper published in Nature Neuroscience on Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of the adult mouse spinal cord reveals molecular diversity of autonomic and skeletal motor neurons. Congratulations to all authors! Check out the cool front cover!

January/February 2021 – Julia and Sergio teach Neurosciences Development Core NEPR.

January 2021 – Julia gets nominated for the NINDS Landis Mentoring Award. A big thank you to my current and former mentees!!

October 2020 – Lab Fall FunFest!

October 2020 – Julia gives a seminar on “Interneuron circuitry in the spinal cord” as part of the 13^th Annual Society for Neuroscience Satellite Symposium on Motor Systems; Washington, DC (zoom Seminar)

October 2020 – Julia becomes Basic Science Diversity Liaison for the Neurosciences PhD Program.

August 2020 – Gabrielle Barsh joins the lab as a PGY-2 Pediatric Neurology Resident. Welcome Gabby!

August 2020 – Josh joins the Krasnow lab and will be co-advised by Julia.

July 2020 – Keira joins the lab!

July 2020 – A collaborative NIH grant with Chet Moritz (UW) and Polina Anikeeva (MIT) gets funded. Looking forward to working together on improving hand function after spinal cord injury. Thanks for having us on the team and thank you to the NIH for their support!

June 2020 – Emily Trimm, MSTP student from the MD-PhD program, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Millie!

June 2020 – Julieta gives a talk on “Uninterrupted messaging: Evidence for direct spinal cord control of the colon” at the Chemistry/Biology Interface Training Program Retreat.

June 2020 – Congratulations on graduating, Amara! We wish you all the best for your new endeavors at Johns Hopkins.

April 2020 – Cole Hansen joins the lab as a Life Science Research Professional. Welcome Cole!

March 2020 – Julia gives a seminar on “Understanding neural circuitry underlying locomotion and gut motility” as part of the Rutgers University Women in Neuroscience series at Rutgers University. Thank you, Nishtha Trivedi, for organizing my amazing day. Great way to celebrate International Women’s Day!

March 2020 – Julia gives a seminar on “Walk, eat, mate: the motor circuits” as part of the Gastronauts Series at Duke University. Thank you to Diego and everyone in the Bohórquez Lab for being wonderful hosts!

February 2020 – Beatriz gets selected as a Bertarelli Fellow for the 2019-20 academic year. Congratulations Beatriz!

February 2020 – Ryan gives a seminar on “Glutamate and organizational features of the enteric nervous system” at The Stanford Center for Molecular Neuroscience in Health and Disease.

February 2020 – Julia receives a gift from the Shurl & Kay Curci Foundation for “Understanding Neuronal Circuitry Underlying Gut Motility”. We so appreciate the support!

January/February 2020 – Julia and Sergio teach Neurosciences Development Core NEPR 202.

January 2020 – Songnan Wang, Berg Scholar from the MD program, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Songnan!

January 2020 – Julia joins the Neurosurgery Diversity Cabinet.

November 2019 – Lori presents a poster entitled “Effects of Breastmilk on Ganglia Development in the Enteric Nervous System” at the MCHRI Symposium.

September 2019 – The Kaltschmidt lab is on Twitter! https://twitter.com/kaltschmidt_lab

September 2019 – Keira Robertson and Joshua Head, Ph.D. students from the Neurosciences Program, start their rotations in the lab. Welcome Keira and Josh!

September 2019 – Jennifer Shadrach starts her postdoc in the lab. Welcome Jen!

September 2019 – New review published in Neural Development on Commissural axon guidance in the developing spinal cord: from Cajal to the present day. Congratulations to all authors!

 September 2019 – Janelle joins the Tawfik lab and will be co-advised by Julia.

September 2019 – Julia gives a seminar on “Understanding neuronal circuitry underlying gut motility” as part of the Developing Brains symposium at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

September 2019 – Julia gives a lecture on “Molecular basis of neuronal circuit formation” as part of the The Developing Brain course at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Thank you, Ulrika Marklund, for being such an amazing host!

July 2019 – We say good-bye to Anna and wish her the best of luck for all her new endeavors!

July 2019 – Julia gives a seminar on “Understanding neuronal circuitry underlying gut motility” at the UCSF Program in Craniofacial Biology Retreat at the California Academy of Sciences. Thank you, Licia Selleri, Ralph Marcucio and Ophir Klein, for the invitation – what a wonderful retreat!

July 2019 – Beatriz and Julia attend 6^th Global NGLY1 Conference hosted by Grace Science Foundation in Palo Alto.

July 2019 – Cac Tran joins the lab as a Life Science Research Professional. Welcome Cac!

June 2019 – Ryan receives an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship Award to study “Molecular characterisation and functional assessment of glutamatergic cells in the enteric nervous system”. Congratulations Ryan!

May 2019 – We receive funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to study “Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Inhibitory Circuitry in the Spinal Cord”. We are very grateful for the support.

April 2019 – New preview published in Neuron on Chandelier Cells Swipe Right for L1CAM. Congratulations Ryan!

March 2019 – Julia gives seminar on “Understanding neural circuitry underlying locomotion and gut motility” at the bonnbrain3 meeting in Bonn, Germany.

March 2019 – Julia gives a seminar on “Understanding neural circuitry underlying locomotion and gut motility” as part of the ChEM-H CBI Seminar Series.

March 2019 – Julia becomes a member of the Stanford Maternal & Child Health Research Institute.

February/March 2019 – Kevin returns to the lab for an AP Internship.

February 2019 – Lori joins the lab!

February 2019 – Janelle Doyle, Ph.D. student from the Neurosciences Program, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Janelle!

January/February 2019 – Julia and Sergio teach Neurosciences Development Core NEPR 202.

January 2019 – We receive a gift for our collaborative work with Polina Anikeeva on developing an early enteric marker of Parkinson’s Disease.  We so appreciate the support.

January 2019 – Keri Ngo, Ph.D. student from the Department of Developmental Biology, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Keri!

January 2019 – Rahul Shiv joins the lab and wins support from the 2019 Stanford Bio-X Undergraduate Summer Research Program. Congratulations and welcome Rahul!

January 2019 – Julia becomes co-Editor-in-Chief for Neural Development.

December 2018 – Avery Krieger, Ph.D. student from the Neurosciences Program, starts his rotation in the lab. Welcome Avery!

November 2018 – Lori Dershowitz, MSTP student from the MD-PhD program, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Lori!

November 2018 – Ryan Hamnett starts his postdoc in the lab. Welcome Ryan!

November 2018 – Julia gives a seminar on “Tuning presynaptic inhibition by retrograde signals and a Contactin/Caspr co-receptor complex” at the 2018 SfN Neuroscience meeting in San Diego. Thank you, Thomas Biederer, for organizing a great “Molecular and Nano-Organization of Synapses” Session.

October 2018 – Amara is selected to present a poster at the 2018 Stanford Symposium of Undergraduate Research and Public Service (SURPS).  Congratulations Amara!

October 2018 – We receive funding from the Grace Science Foundation for characterizing the architecture of the enteric nervous system in Ngly1 mutant mice.  Congratulations Beatriz!

October 2018 – Julia and Ivan teach Responsible Conduct of Neuroscience Research NEPR 212.

September 2018 – Subhamoy gives seminar on “Functional Dissection of ETV1 Circuitry in the Enteric Nervous System” at The Stanford Center for Molecular Neuroscience in Health and Disease.

September 2018 – Polina Anikeeva, from the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering, starts her sabbatical in the lab. Welcome Polina!

September 2018 – Julia gives seminar on “Understanding neural circuitry underlying locomotion and gut motility” at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.

September 2018 – Subhamoy gives seminar on “Functional Dissection of ETV1 Circuitry in the Enteric Nervous System” at San Jose State University, San Jose.

September 2018 – New review published in Current Opinion in Neurobiology on Sensory and descending motor circuitry during development and injury. Congratulations to all authors!

August 2018 – Julia becomes a ChEM-H CBI Faculty Mentor.

July 2018 – Beatriz and Julia attend 5^th Global NGLY1 Conference hosted by Grace Science Foundation in Palo Alto.

July 2018 – Subhamoy and Vijaya Kanchustambham from Richard Zare’s lab win Stanford ChEM-H Postdocs at the Interface seed grant. Congratulations Moy and Vijji!

June 2018 – Julia joins the Neurosciences PhD Program as Training Faculty.

June 2018 – Julia becomes a Faculty Mentor for the Stanford Undergraduate Neuroscience Society (SUNS).

May 2018 – Beatriz, Moy and Julia attend Stanford Neurosciences Institute Retreat in Watsonville.

May 2018 – Julieta and Subhamoy win Beckman Mini-Grant for Image Analysis. Congratulations!

April 2018 – Julieta joins the lab!

April 2018 – Julia gives a seminar on “Understanding neural circuitry underlying locomotion and gut motility” as part of the Stanford Regenerative Medicine Seminar Series.

April 2018 – Julia speaks at Inaugural Symposium for The Stanford Center for Molecular Neuroscience in Health and Disease.

April 2018 – Special Issue on Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neural circuit assembly, co-edited by Julia and Tom Clandinin, goes online.

January/February 2018 – Julia and Isabella teach Neurosciences Development Core NEPR 202.

January 2018 – Beatriz joins the lab!

January 2018 – Julieta Gomez-Frittelli, Ph.D. student from the Department of Chemical Engineering/ChEM-H, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Julieta!

January 2018 – Amara Aarif, undergraduate student from the Bioengineering Department, joins the lab on a ChEM-H Undergraduate Fellowship Grant. Congratulations and welcome Amara!

December 2017 – Julia gives seminar on “Mechanisms of synaptic specificity underlying interneuronal circuit information” at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta.

November 2017– Julia gives seminar on “Mechanisms of interneuronal circuit formation” at University of Oregon, Eugene.

October 2017 – Beatriz Robinson, Ph.D. student from the Neurosciences Program, starts her rotation in the lab. Welcome Beatriz!

October 2017 – New article published in Cell Reports on A role for dystonia-associated genes in spinal GABAergic interneuron circuitry. Congratulations to all authors!

October 2017 – Inaugural ENS joint lab meeting with Linda Nguyen and Aida Habtezion and their lab members.

October 2017 – Moy presents a lightning talk and poster at the Stanford 2017 Biotechnology Symposium.

September 2017 – Julia speaks at Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neural Circuit Assembly EMBO/IST in Klosterneuburg, Austria.

August 2017 – Anna Oppermann joins the lab as a Life Science Research Professional. Welcome Anna!

July 2017 – Subhamoy Das starts his postdoc in the lab. Welcome Moy!

June 2017 – Julia speaks at Inhibition in the CNS Gordon Research Conference in Les Diablerets, Switzerland.

May 2017 – Julia speaks at Excitatory Synapses & Brain Function Gordon Research Conference in Les Diablerets, Switzerland.

April 2017 – Julia becomes a Stanford Bio-X affiliate.

April 2017 – Julia moves her lab from New York to Stanford to join the Neurosurgery Department and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute.

Wiring the nervous system: Interneuron circuitry in the mouse spinal cord

The regulation of information flow by local inhibitory microcircuits has a fundamental role in shaping animal behavior. In the mammalian spinal cord GABAergic inhibitory interneurons serve key functions in sensory-motor transformation. One class of GABAergic interneurons, termed GABApre neurons, forms axo-axonic synapses with the terminals of proprioceptive sensory afferents and exerts an inhibitory constraint on sensory processing. I am using the GABApre interneuron circuitry to understand (i) how distinct neuronal populations are generated, (ii) how these distinct neuronal populations recognize and choose their correct synaptic partners from among different available targets, and (iii) how postsynaptic signals induce the differentiation of presynaptic terminals in service of balanced microcircuit function.

In the future, I expect to maintain a focus on multiple aspects of neuronal circuit biology, including: the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms directing synaptic connectivity; the nature and mechanisms of circuit adaptation in health and disease; and the functional organization of GABAergic interneurons in spinal locomotor circuits, sexual response circuitry and the enteric nervous system.