Richard Huganir

About

Richard Huganir is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. He serves as the Director of the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience and is also Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute. His research interests focus on the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate neurotransmitter receptors and synapse function. Huganir completed his undergraduate work in biochemistry at Vassar College and earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology from Cornell University, where he conducted thesis research in the laboratory of Efraim Racker. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine in Paul Greengard's laboratory, he joined the faculty of Rockefeller University as an Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. Currently, he is a professor and director at Johns Hopkins University, contributing significantly to the understanding of synaptic mechanisms and neurotransmitter receptor regulation.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Biology
• Neuroscience
• Genetics
• Evolutionary biology
• Computational biology

Selected publications

• Mapping genomic loci implicates genes and synaptic biology in schizophrenia

  Nature · 2022 · 2693 citations

  , much of which is attributable to common risk alleles. Here, in a two-stage genome-wide association study of up to 76,755 individuals with schizophrenia and 243,649 control individuals, we report common variant associations at 287 distinct genomic loci. Associations were concentrated in genes that are expressed in excitatory and inhibitory neurons of the central nervous system, but not in other tissues or cell types. Using fine-mapping and functional genomic data, we identify 120 genes (106 pro…

  DOI

• Visualizing synaptic plasticity in vivo by large-scale imaging of endogenous AMPA receptors

  eLife · 2021 · 82 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Elucidating how synaptic molecules such as AMPA receptors mediate neuronal communication and tracking their dynamic expression during behavior is crucial to understand cognition and disease, but current technological barriers preclude large-scale exploration of molecular dynamics in vivo. We have developed a suite of innovative methodologies that break through these barriers: a new knockin mouse line with fluorescently tagged endogenous AMPA receptors, two-photon imaging of hundreds of thousands…

  DOI

• SynGAP regulates synaptic plasticity and cognition independently of its catalytic activity

  Science · 2024 · 80 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  -related neurodevelopmental disorders.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• DELTA: a method for brain-wide measurement of synaptic protein turnover reveals localized plasticity during learning

  Nature Neuroscience · 2025-03-31 · 21 citations

  articleOpen access

  Synaptic plasticity alters neuronal connections in response to experience, which is thought to underlie learning and memory. However, the loci of learning-related synaptic plasticity, and the degree to which plasticity is localized or distributed, remain largely unknown. Here we describe a new method, DELTA, for mapping brain-wide changes in synaptic protein turnover with single-synapse resolution, based on Janelia Fluor dyes and HaloTag knock-in mice. During associative learning, the turnover o…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Calcium-permeable AMPA receptors govern PV neuron feature selectivity

  Nature · 2024-10-02 · 16 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The brain helps us survive by forming internal representations of the external world1,2. Excitatory cortical neurons are often precisely tuned to specific external stimuli3,4. However, inhibitory neurons, such as parvalbumin-positive (PV) interneurons, are generally less selective5. PV interneurons differ from excitatory neurons in their neurotransmitter receptor subtypes, including AMPA (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid) receptors (AMPARs)6,7. Excitatory neurons express cal…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant P50MH084020

  NIH · $9.2M · 2013

• NIH Grant P50MH068830

  NIH · $17.3M · 2008

• Longitudinal in vivo imaging of synaptic pathologies of Alzheimer's disease

  NIH · $450k · 2020–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Kogo Takamiya

  University of Miyazaki

  175 shared

• Richard C. Johnson

  Discovery Institute

  127 shared

• Ingie Hong

  Johns Hopkins University

  111 shared

• Yoichi Araki

  107 shared

• Paul F. Worley

  Johns Hopkins Medicine

  98 shared

• Gavin Rumbaugh

  Scripps Research Institute

  96 shared

• Craig Blackstone

  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

  87 shared

• Alexei M. Bygrave

  Johns Hopkins University

  77 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology

  Cornell University

  1982

• A.B., Biochemistry

  Vassar College

  1975

Similar researchers at Johns Hopkins University

• Michela Gallagherh-104
• Patricia Janakh-88
• James Knierimh-73