Neuroscientists Talk Shop

On October 29, 2026 we spoke with Dr. Tiffany Schmidt about the unique set of retinal neurons whose activity is not exclusively dependent on the photoreceptors, but which contain melanopsin, a photosensitive pigment that gives them an intrinsic response to light. She explained how these neurons subserve behavioral light responses but are not a part of our conscious visual perception, including light-entrainment of the circadian pacemaker, the pupillary response, and a fascinating contribution to mood.

Guest:

Tiffany Schmidt, Associate Professor in the Departments of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology, Northwestern University

Participating:

Addison Kanke, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On October 15, 2026 we spoke with Dr. Edward Bartlett about how the auditory system detects and encodes rapid changes in sound amplitude essential for the detection of speech sounds. He explained the temporal sensitivity of single neurons in the upper brainstem auditory structures, the inferior colliculus and thalamus, which are essential for this process.

Guest:

Edward Bartlett, Professor of Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University

Participating:

Marina Silveira, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Rosy Carrasco, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On October 8, 2026 we met with Dr. Camillo Padoa-Schioppa to learn how subjective value is represented in the brain and directs how animals and humans choose among goal options.

Guest:

Camillo Padoa-Schioppa, Professor of Neuroscience at Washington University in Saint Louis

Participating:

Alice Bertero, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On September 17, 2026 we spoke with Dr. Michele Guigliano about the differences between neurons in the human cerebral cortex and those of rodents. We discussed the possibility that those differences may contribute to the unique intellectual capacity of humans.

Guest:

Michele Guigliano, PhD, Associate Professor Department of Biomedical, Metabolic & Neural Sciences, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia and Associate Professor of Physiology SISSA in Trieste

Participating:

Fidel Santamaria, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On September 10, 2026 we talked with Dr. Melissa Caras on the neurophysiology underlying perceptual learning in the auditory cortex. She defined perceptual learning, explained how it can be measured in animals, and described the changes in neuronal activity auditory cortex neurons associated with learning.

Guest:

Melissa Caras, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Maryland

Participating:

Alice Bertero, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Alfonso Apicella, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On September 3, 2026 I met with UTSA colleague Dr. Matt Wanat to discuss the role of dopamine in performance and learning of motivated behavior. Matt explained why it is difficult to make a simple general description of dopamine function.

Guest:

Matt Wanat, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On August 27, 2026 we met with our UTSA colleague Dr. Tony Burgos-Robles from UTSA to discuss his work on the contribution of prefrontal cortex to learning responses to threat and safety.

Guest:

Tony Burgos-Robles, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Participating:

Stephanie Villalon, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antoni

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On April 30, 2026, we met with Dr. Courtney Rouse from the Southwest Research Institute. We discussed approaches to designing machine learning methods for neuroscience data analysis.

Guest:

Courtney Rouse, Senior Research Engineer, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio

Participating:

Erick Olivares, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music.

On April 23, 2026 I met with Drs. Vanesa Nieto Estévez and Parul Varma to talk about brain organoids made from cells derived from patients with genetic childhood epilepsy. Vanesa and Parul explained how these patient-derived tissue cultures are used to isolate the defects in brain development that underly the brain disorder, and to suggest and test potential treatments.

Guests:

Vanesa Nieto Estévez and Parul Varma, Assistant Professors of Research, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On April 16, 2026, we met with Dr. Robert Froemke of New York University to discuss his work on parenting and co-parenting in mice. We covered a wide range of topics including his video approach to discovery in behavioral experiments and the role of oxytocin in parental behavior.

Guest:

Robert Froemke, Professor, Department of Otolaryngology and Department of Neuroscience at at New York University Langone Health.

Participating:

Alfonso Apicella, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Alice Bertero, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Jon Moler, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

On April 9, 2026 I spoke with Dr. Marcelo Marucho, on the electrical properties of actin filaments and microtubules, ubiquitous components of the cytoskeleton of nearly all cells. He explained how the surface charge of these proteins creates a thin charged layer in the adjacent cytoplasm in which electrical signals may be generated and conducted. In the case of microtubules, the interaction between external and luminal surfaces can produce oscillations. We discussed some of the possible functions of these electrical signals in the brain.

Guest:

Marcelo Marucho, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UTSA

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

On April 2, 2026 we met with Dr. Daniel Llano to discuss the organization of the largest subcortical auditory brain structure, the inferior colliculus. He told us about the three major subnuclei within the inferior colliculus, their synaptic connections with other auditory and somatosensory structures, and the problems encountered as we try to identify the cell types and local connectivity within the nucleus.

Guest: Daniel A Llano, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Participating: Marina Silveira, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Host: Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UT San Antonio

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On March 26, 2026, we held our annual UTSA Neuroscience Symposium entitled "From Place Cells to Cognition", featuring 5 speakers presenting original research on the cognitive functions of hippocampal place cells. They discussed the firing patterns of place cells during exploration of cognitive maps, anticipating future movements, recall of previously visited locations, and imagining the movement of objects in the environment. After the symposium, I met with the speakers to review some of the themes that emerged throughout the day.

Speakers:

Francesco Savelli, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

Annabelle Singer, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University

Albert Lee, Associate Professor, Department of Neurology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University

Jill Leutgeb, Professor, Department of Neurobiology, University of California San Diego

Kamran Diba, Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On March 19, 2026 we spoke with Dr. Se-Woong Park about the idea that many of the symptoms of Autism may arise from changes in brain mechanisms that allow us to predict events in the near future from those in the recent past. Topics included internal predictions of postural destabilization produced by our own movements, and prediction of the trajectories of moving objects. We discussed some experimental results testing this idea.

Guest:

Se-Woong Park, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology, UTSA

Participating:

Hyoung-gon Lee, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On February 26, 2026 we were joined by Dr. Peter Fox to talk about quantitative brain imaging methods and how they can reveal localized changes in brain structure in brain disorders that traditionally have not been associated with specific neuropathology.

Guest:

Peter Fox, Director, Brain Imaging Institute and Professor of Radiology, Neurology, and Physiology at UT Health San Antonio.

Participating:

George Perry, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA.

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA.

On February 19, 2026 we were visited by Dr. Dayu Lin to hear about her work on some of the cell groups that make up the hypothalamus and their function in activating innate social behaviors in mice, including parenting and protection of their young.

Guest:

Dayu Lin, Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Institute for Translational Neuroscience, Langone Medical Center, New York University

Participating:

Antony Burgos-Robles, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA.

Aayushma Kunwar, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA.

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA.

Thanks to James Tepper for original music.

On February 5, 2026 we met with Dr.Jonathan Bohmann to learn about the structure and function of acetylcholinesterase, the extracellular enzyme that controls the strength and time course of neurotransmitter at cholinergic synapses. He explained how computational models of molecular structure is be used to understand the functional properties of the enzyme and to design drugs that can modify its action.

Guest:

Jonathan Bohmann, Scientist, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio

Participating:

Jenny Hsieh, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

On January 30, 2026, Fidel Santamaria returned to the podcast (after 18 years) to talk about the thermodynamics of ion channel activation and deactivation, and the changes in neuronal activity that occur with changes in temperature.

Guest: Fidel Santamaria, Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology.

Host: Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology.

Thanks to Jim Tepper for original music

On December 8, 2025 we spoke with Dr. Matthew Goodwin about the use of wearable biosensor technology and machine learning to improve behavioral evaluation of autism, to provide real time alerts for caregivers and more effective interventions before the onset of potentially dangerous behavioral situations.

Guest:

Matthew Goodwin, Professor and Associate Chair of Research at the Department of Public Health and Health Sciences and the Khouri College of Computer Sciences, at Northeastern University.

Participating:

Leslie Neeley, Director of the Child and Adolescent Policy Research Institute, and Associate Director of the Brain Health Consortium, UTSA

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

Thanks to James Tepper for original music

On December 4, 2025 we talked with Dr. Mike Beckstead about his work on changes in dopaminergic neuron excitability in the ventral tegmental area in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease. Mike explained the molecular mechanism of the excitability change and the change in gene expression at its cause.

Guest:

Mike Beckstead, Professor and Hille Family Foundation Chair in Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Aging & Metabolism Research Program Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

Participating:

Matt Wanat, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

Host:

Charles Wilson, Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, UTSA

Thanks to James Tepper for original music