Ed Callaway, Vincent J. Coates Chair and Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, was recently elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences for his outstanding contributions to research. 

Callaway serves as Co-Principal Investigator on the Integrated Circuit Cracking NeuroNex Technology Hub. As part of this NSF-funded project, Callaway’s group, along with a team of researchers at Stanford University, are working to build and disseminate methods and tools that could help target and control specific kinds of brain cells. The goal is to provide a broadly applicable platform to understand how single cells can influence brain states and behaviors. Callaway’s efforts focus on development and refinement of methods for revealing the specific connections formed by different brain cell types. 

“Having a wiring diagram of the brain — what cell types are connected — is an important step toward understanding brain function,” says Callaway. “This information provides a blueprint to guide functional studies that manipulate and measure brain activity in order to interrogate how all the cell types work together.” 

The mission of the National Academy of Sciences is to provide objective analysis and advice on science, engineering and health policy to the federal government and other organizations. As part of this recent election, the Academy added 100 members, including a historic number of women, and 25 foreign associates bringing its total membership up to more than 2,300.