Associate Professor Talia Lerner from Northwestern University recently wrote about a paper by UC Berkeley Associate Professor of Neuroscience Stephan Lammel and colleagues in the “This paper changed my life” series from The Transmitter. Lammel was the lead author on the 2011 paper in Neuron that Lerner found so inspiring.
Lerner said that Lammel’s paper was one of the first to highlight the heterogeneity of dopamine neurons, challenging the assumption that all dopamine neurons share certain characteristics. This has helped scientists better understand how dopamine works in brain, and could lead to more tailored treatments for neurological diseases and disorders that minimize side effects.
In the article, Lerner describes how Lammel’s paper set her on her research path, moved the field forward, and demonstrated the power of simple experiments. Read Lerner’s article in The Transmitter.
