Alex Nord, Ph.D.

Researchers in the College of Biological Sciences have received a grant to study the role of the cerebellum in autism. “We need a more holistic understanding of the brain circuits that drive this disorder,” says Alex Nord, an associate professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior (NPB); psychiatry and behavioral sciences; and a core faculty member at the Center for Neuroscience (CNS). “The cerebellum is a key component that has been largely overlooked until recently.”

Our understanding of schizophrenia has increased greatly in recent years, as studies of large groups of people have identified a multitude of genetic variants that increase a person’s risk of the disease. But each of those individual risk factors accounts for “only a very minor amount of the overall risk,” said Alex Nord, a professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior in the College of Biological Sciences; psychiatry and behavioral sciences; and a core faculty member at the Center for Neuroscience.