Dept of Anatomy & Neurobiology, UC Irvine

Thrilled to share that I’ll be joining @UCIrvine @AnatomyNeurobio as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in early 2026! My lab will study the neurobiology of metabolism and aging. Deeply grateful to my mentors, collaborators, and friends. Excited for the next chapter!

UCI Dept. of Anatomy & Neurobiology is thrilled to announce that Dr. Han L Tan @Han_L_Tan , currently a postdoc at Rockefeller University, will be joining as a new assistant professor! Dr. Tan will study the neurobiology of metabolism and aging at UCI.

UCI Dept. of Anatomy & Neurobiology is thrilled to announce that Dr. Joshua P Johansen @JoJoLab5 , currently a team leader at RIKEN Center for Brain Science, will be joining as a faculty member! Dr. Johansen will expand his outstanding research on emotional memory at UCI.

Join us at our department's seminar on March 13th! We will be hosting Jerod Rasmussen, PhD.

Join us at our department's seminar on January 16th! We will be hosting Roberto Ciccocioppo, PhD.

Join us at our department's seminar on November 21st! We will be hosting Dion Khodagholy, PhD.

Join us at our department's seminar on October 24th! We will be hosting Yannick Fotio, PharmD, PhD.

Join us at our first department seminar of the academic year! We will be hosting Benjamin Gunn, PhD.

The Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at UC Irvine @UCIMedSchool invites applications for a tenure track/tenured Assistant or Associate Professor, broadly on neuronal circuit function at the cellular to systems level. Please apply here: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09237

Where in the brain is abstract map generated? It is the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), working together!! Here is our new finding published in @Nature Prefrontal and lateral entorhinal neurons co-dependently learn item–outcome rules Heechul Jun†, Jason Y. Lee†, Nicholas R. Bleza, Ayana Ichii, Jordan D. Donohue & Kei M. Igarashi* Nature (2024) nature.com/articles/s4158… When you learn new items, your learned knowledge is sorted into an “internal map” of the brain. An internal map, also called as an “abstract map”, is made of population activity of many neurons. In this new work led by Heechul Jun @jun_heechul and Jason Lee @jasonyensunlee, we found that the LEC deep layers and mPFC co-dependently generate abstract map during learning. These two areas had bidiretional anatomical connections, making a loop circuit. Inhibition of the LEC disrupted the abstract map in the mPFC, and mPFC inhibition deleted LEC abstract map. Our message is: LEC and mPFC are best friends! @AnatomyNeurobio @UCIMedSchool @uci_bme @UCIEngineering @UCI_NeurCircuit @ucicnlm @ucimind @UCIrvineNews @UCIrvine

JOIN US for the 2024 EpiCenter Symposium on May 22! Featuring the one and only @TracyDixonSalaz from @LGS_Foundation as our keynote speaker and talks from faculty and trainees at UCI and beyond. Register now at: epilepsyresearch.uci.edu/epicenter-symp…

Registration is now open for the 2024 EpiCenter Symposium Join us for a one-day symposium featuring an excellent lineup of speakers working to solve important problems related to epilepsy in the laboratory, the clinic and the community. Learn more at epilepsyresearch.uci.edu/epicenter-symp…

📢Today's the last day to vote for our #UCIMedSchool researchers in #STATMadness. This is getting close! We need your votes to reach the next round. Show your support by sharing this post and voting for #UCIrvine by 9 p.m. PT! Vote NOW: bit.ly/3v3QVyC

Join us at our department's seminar on April 11th at Plumwood room 166! We will be hosting Joshua Johansen, PhD from the University of Tokyo.

📢We need your votes! The #STATMadness competition is on. Vote for @UCIrvine researchers @z_baram @mtbirnie and @drbelshort from @AnatomyNeurobio in Matchup 16 for their study on Stress-Related Brain Disruption. Vote here: bit.ly/3v3QVyC #UCIMedSchool #UCIrvine #UCI

Join us at our department's seminar on March 14th! We will be hosting Krishna Jayant, PhD from Purdue University.

Join us at our department's seminar on February 15th! We will be hosting guest speaker Garret Anderson, PhD from UC Riverside.

Kei Igarashi @kei_m_igarashi, Associate Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology at UC Irvine @UCIMedSchool, is awarded the 19th Japan Academy Medal news.uci.edu/2023/02/07/uc-…

Join us on Feb 28th for our 20th Annual Epilepsy Symposium @UCIrvineSOM! Featuring talks by @cmariegall, @os_steward, @ThompsonPeerLab, @brittneyboublil & others not on twitter. Our keynote is @SolteszLab and we're excited for the day! To register: epilepsyresearch.uci.edu/epicenter-symp…

Come to our PIN seminar to support our wonderful trainees and hear about their awesome work tomorrow, Friday Jan. 20th at 4pm PST. @AnatomyNeurobio @UCIrvineSOM