New York University scientists Carol Shoshkes Reiss, viral neuroimmunologist , and Joseph LeDoux, a neural scientist, have been named Fellows of the New York Academy of Sciences.
New York University scientists Carol Shoshkes Reiss, viral neuroimmunologist , and Joseph LeDoux, a neural scientist, have been named Fellows of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Reiss’ areas of expertise are viral immunology, ranging from innate to cellular signaling as well as molecular aspects, and pathogenesis of infection. Her laboratory is currently exploring the role of the immune system in fighting viral infections from the central nervous system. Recently, Reiss and her colleagues at NYU uncovered how the innate immune system in mice’s brains fights viral infection of neurons. The findings, which were published as the cover study this spring in the journal Virology, show that proteins in neurons fight the virus at multiple stages-by preventing the formation of viral RNA and proteins, and blocking the virus’ release, which could infect other cells in the brain. Reiss received a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College, a masters degree from Sarah Lawrence College, and a doctorate from the City University of New York’s Mt. Sinai Graduate School of Biomedical Science. Prior to coming to NYU, Reiss was on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School. She is an adjunct professor of microbiology at both NYU School of Medicine and Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a member of the NYU Cancer Institute.
LeDoux has worked on the emotion and memory in the brain for more than 20 years. His research, mostly on fear, shows how we can respond to danger before we know what we are responding to. It has also shed light on how emotional memories are formed and stored in the brain. Through this research, LeDoux has mapped the neural circuits underlying fear and fear memory through the brain, and has identified cells, synapses and molecules that make emotional learning and memory possible. In addition to numerous publications in scholarly journals, LeDoux has published books that present his work to a wider audience, including The Emotional Brain (Simon and Schuster, 1998) focuses mainly on emotion, and Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are (Viking, 2002). LeDoux obtained his bachelor’s and masters degrees from Louisiana State University and his doctorate from the State University of New York, Stony Brook.