Skip to main content
Tiago Branco wears a light blue shirt and stands in front of a white board in The Scientist’s 40th Anniversary Then and Now story template.
| 4 min read
Neuroscientist Tiago Branco reflects on how his research expanded from studying single neurons to exploring how brain circuits dictate survival behaviors.

neurons

Two neurons communicating with electrical signals

High-Throughput Electrophysiology Workflows for In Vitro Models

Integra Logo
Image of two interacting nerve cells connected with synapse with blue background.

Shining Light on the Evolution of Optogenetics

Image of two speech bubbles. Inside the full white speech bubble, there is red text denoting The Scientist 40 Years, 1986-2026.

Lighting Up Neurons

Artwork titled “Cherry Blossom Microglia” showing pink microglia and green neurons against a blue background in 3D.

“Dreaming Cells” Exhibit: The Art of Seeing Cells in Everyday Scenes

Combined image of all sections through a neurobot, showing multiciliated cells on the surface and neurons in the center.

Neurobots: Biological Robots with A Simple Nervous System

Photo of a giraffe bending over to stare at the camera against a white background.

How Is Information Transmitted in Large Animals?

Photograph of a white puzzle in the shape of a brain on a yellow background. One puzzle piece from the center of the brain is missing. This photo represents a word losing its meaning in a phenomenon called semantic satiation.

Why Does Repeating a Word Make It Lose Its Meaning?

Image of a wooden sculpture comprised of multiple wooden neurons that form a bear.

Wooden Neurons: An Artistic Vision of the Brain

An immunofluorescence image of skin fibroblasts colored in green, red, and blue is shown.

What’s the Best Cell? Scientists Choose Their Favorites

Trending

A drawing of men and women holding boxes, resigning en mass from their jobs as editors.

Editors Mass Resign from Elsevier Journal After Editor-in-Chief Let Go

A team of cartoon scientists studying a giant pancreas.

Prolonged GLP-1 Exposure Remodels Gene Expression in the Pancreas by Flipping a Molecular Switch

Image of a Diploptera punctata cockroach.

Cockroach Milk Proteins Churn Out an Ig Nobel Win

In the TS 40th Anniversary template, Sarkis Mazmanian smiles in a black and white headshot photo on the left. In a photo on the right, he stands in front of a large image of a cross-section of the brain. He wears a navy jacket, a white shirt, and glasses.

Then and Now: Sarkis Mazmanian Finds Gut-Brain Links to Parkinson’s Disease

Multimedia

Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

EpiCypher Logo
Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Alamar Biosciences logo
The Scientist Digest cover September 2026
September 2026

Multiplex Microscopy Becomes Easier with Encoded Antibodies

A new system that enables researchers to uniquely tag monoclonal antibodies for use in microscopy could help simplify complex imaging studies.

View this Issue
Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

EpiCypher Logo
Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Alamar Biosciences logo
Engineering CAR-Neutrophils In Vivo to Target Glioblastoma

Engineering CAR-Neutrophils In Vivo to Target Glioblastoma

Miltenyi
Best Practices for qPCR Assay Design and Optimization

Best Practices for qPCR Assay Design and Optimization

Bio-Rad

Products

Closeup image of a multi channel pipette dispensing pink liquid into a 96-well plate.

The ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot for affordable workflow automation

Integra Logo
Single cells in suspension

Rapidly isolate primary cells and make uniform single-cell suspensions with Corning® Cell Strainers

Corning logo
Abstract image representing cell membranes linked together.

CellBrite® Steady Membrane Stain: Cell surface staining built for real-time imaging

Biotium
sino biological logo

Monod Bio Licenses AI-designed Protein Technologies to SignalChem Biotech for Custom Discovery Assays