A team of researchers from the Bhatnagar Lab at Boston University recently published a paper in Nature Cities that studied the difference in microbial communities of street trees and non-urban forest trees. By analyzing fungal and bacterial diversity, tree size, and soil properties, their research shows the impacts of urban environmental stressors upon city tree microbiomes.

Trying to document how single brain cells participate in networks that govern behavior is a daunting task. A newly developed brain probe, called Neuropixels Ultra, overcomes some key technical challenges in recording the cell type and activity of thousands of individual cells across many brain regions. The project is part of the NIH BRAIN Initiative to create innovative neurotechnologies to map and analyze brain dynamics. 

Using brain imaging and behavioral data, Caterina Stamoulis, PhD, and her team in the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital have found that adolescents who are socially withdrawn or who frequently prefer solitude show measurable differences in brain structure and function.