Research Articles

  1. Wang, S. Krabbe, F.E. Henry, G. Fleishman, A.L. Lemire, L. Wang, W. Korff, P.W. Tillberg, A. Lüthi, S.M. Sternson*. Multimodal mapping of cell types and projections in the central nucleus of the amygdala. eLife (2023) Jan 20; 12:e84262. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.84262
  2. J. Raper, M.A.G. Eldridge, S.M. Sternson, J.Y. Shim, G.P. Fomani, B.J. Richmond, T. Wichmann, A. Galvan. Characterization of ultrapotent chemogenetic ligands for research applications in non-human primates. ACS Chemical Neurosci. (2022) 13, 3118-3125. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.2c00525
  3. Y. Wang, M. Eddison, G. Fleishman, M. Weigert, S. Xu, F.E. Henry, T. Wang, A.L. Lemire, U. Schmidt, H. Yang, K. Rokicki, C. Goina, K. Svoboda, E.W. Myers, S. Saalfeld, W. Korff, S.M. Sternson*† & P.W. Tillberg*. Expansion-Assisted Iterative-FISH Defines Lateral Hypothalamus Spatio-Molecular Organization. Cell (2021) 184, 6361-6377. *co-equal authors, †lead contact https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.11.024
  4. A.-K. Eiselt, S. Chen, J. Chen, J. Arnold, T. Kim, M. Pachitariu, Sternson, S. M. Hunger or thirst need-state uncertainty is resolved by outcome evaluation in medial prefrontal cortext to guide decision-making. Nature Neurosci 24 (2021) 907-912. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-021-00850-4
  5. S. Xu, H. Yang, V. Menon, A.L. Lemire, L. Wang, F.E. Henry, S.C. Turaga, S.M. Sternson. Behavioral state coding by molecularly defined paraventricular hypothalamic cell type ensembles. Science (2020) 10.1126/science.abb2494. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb2494
  6. R. Gong, S. Xu, A. Hermundstad, Y. Yu, S.M. Sternson. Hindbrain double-negative feedback mediates palatability-guided food and water consumption. Cell 182 (2020) 1589-1605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.07.031
  7. J. Winnubst, E. Bas, T.A. Ferreira, Z. Wu, M.N. Economo, P. Edson, B.J. Arthur, C. Bruns, K. Rokicki, D. Schauder, D.J. Olbris, S.D. Murphy, D.J. Ackerman, C. Arshadi, P. Baldwin, R. Blake, A. Elsayed, M. Hasan, D. Ramirez, B.D. Santos, M. Weldon, A. Zafar, J.T. Dudman, C.R. Gerfen, A.W. Hantman, W. Korff, S.M. Sternson, N. Spruston, K. Svoboda, J. Chandrashekar. Reconstruction of 1,000 projection neurons reveals new cell types and organization of long-range connectivity in the mouse brain. Cell 179 (2019) 268-281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.07.042
  8. C.M. Magnus, P. Lee, J. Bonaventura, R. Zemla, J. L. Gomez, M. Ramirez, X. Hu, A. Galvan, J. Basu, M. Michaelides, S. M. Sternson. Ultrapotent chemogenetics for research and potential clinical applications. Science (2019) 10.1126/science.aav5282. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aav5282
  9. T. Branco, A. Tozer, C.J. Magnus, K. Sugino, S. Tanaka, A.K. Lee, J.N. Wood, S.M. Sternson. Near-perfect synaptic integration by Nav1.7 in hypothalamic neurons regulates body weight. Cell 165 (2016) 1749-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.05.019
  10. Y. Yang, P. Lee, S.M. Sternson. Cell type-specific pharmacology of NMDA receptors using masked MK801. eLife (2015) 4:e10206. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10206
  11. F.E. Henry, K. Sugino, A. Tozer, T. Branco, S.M. Sternson. Cell type-specific transcriptomics of hypothalamic energy-sensing neuron responses to weight-loss. eLife (2015) 4:e09800. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09800
  12. J.N. Betley, S. Xu, Z.F. Huang Cao, R. Gong, C. Magnus, Y. Yang, S.M. Sternson. Neurons for hunger and thirst transmit a negative valence teaching signal. Nature 521 (2015), 180-185. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14416
  13. S.E. Simonds, J.T. Pryor, E. Ravussin, F.L. Greenway, R. Dileone, A.M. Allen, J. Bassi, J.K. Elmquist, J.M. Keogh, E. Henning, M.G. Myers Jr, J. Licinio, R.D. Brown, P.J. Enriori, S. O’Rahilly, S.M. Sternson, D.C. Spanswick, K.L. Grove, I.S. Farooqi, M.A. Cowley. Leptin mediates the increase in blood pressure associated with obesity. Cell 159 (2014) 1404-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2014.10.058
  14. D. Atasoy, J.N. Betley, W-P. Li, H.H. Su, S.M. Sirtel, L.K. Scheffer, J.H. Simpson, R.D. Fetter, S.M. Sternson. A genetically specified connectomics approach applied to long-range feeding regulatory circuits. Nature Neurosci. 17, (2014) 1830-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3854
  15. T.J. Stachniak, A. Ghosh, S.M. Sternson. Chemogenetic synaptic silencing of neural circuits localizes a hypothalamus→midbrain pathway for feeding behavior. Neuron 82 (2014) 797-808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2014.04.008
  16. J.N. Betley, Z.F. Huang Cao, K.D. Ritola, S.M. Sternson. Parallel, redundant circuit organization for homeostatic control of feeding behavior. Cell 155 (2013) 137-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.002
  17. D. Atasoy, J.N. Betley, H.H. Su, S.M. Sternson. Deconstruction of a neural circuit for hunger. Nature 488 (2012) 172-7. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11270
  18. L. Tian, Y. Yang, L.M. Wysocki, A.C. Arnold, A. Hu, B. Ravichandran, S.M. Sternson, L.L. Looger, L.D. Lavis. A Selective Esterase–Ester Pair for Targeting Small Molecules with Cellular Specificity. PNAS 109 (2012) 4756-61. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1111943109
  19. M. Lovett-Barron, G.F. Turi, P. Kaifosh, P.H. Lee, F. Bolze, X.H. Sun, J.F. Nicoud, B.V. Zemelman, S.M. Sternson, A. Losonczy. Regulation of neuronal input transformations by tunable dendritic inhibition. Nature Neurosci. 15 (2012) 423-30. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3024
  20. Y. Yang, D. Atasoy, H.H. Su, S.M. Sternson. Hunger states switch a flip-flop memory circuit via a synaptic AMPK-dependent positive feedback loop. Cell 146 (2011) 992-1003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2011.07.039
  21. C.J. Magnus, P.H. Lee, D. Atasoy, H.H. Su, L.L. Looger, S.M. Sternson. Chemical and genetic engineering of selective ion channel-ligand interactions. Science 333 (2011) 1292-6. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1206606
  22. Y. Aponte, D. Atasoy, S.M. Sternson. AGRP neurons are sufficient to orchestrate feeding behavior rapidly and without training. Nature Neurosci. 13 (2011) 351-5. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2739
  23. H. Peng, Z. Ruan, D. Atasoy, S. Sternson. Automatic reconstruction of 3D neuron structures using a graph-augmented deformable model. Bioinformatics 26 (2010) i38-46. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btq212
  24. M.M. Scott, J.L. Lachey, S.M. Sternson, C.E. Lee, C.F. Elias, J.M. Friedman, J.K. Elmquist. Leptin targets in the mouse brain. J. Comp. Neurol. 514 (2009) 518-32. https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.22025
  25. L. Petreanu, T Mao, S.M. Sternson, K. Svoboda. The subcellular organization of neocortical excitatory connections. Nature 26 (2009) 1142-5. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07709
  26. D. Atasoy, Y. Aponte, H.H. Su, S.M. Sternson. A FLEX switch targets Channelrhodopsin-2 to multiple cell types for imaging and long-range circuit mapping. J. Neuroscience 28 (2008)  https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1954-08.2008
  27. S.M. Sternson, G.M.G. Shepherd, J.M. Friedman. Topographic mapping of VMH→arcuate nucleus microcircuits and their reorganization by fasting. Nature Neurosci. 10 (2005) 1356-63. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1550
  28. J.C. Wong, S.M. Sternson, J.B. Louca, R. Hong, S.L. Schreiber. Modular synthesis and preliminary biological evaluation of stereochemically diverse 1,3-dioxanes, Chem. Biol. 11 (2004) 1279-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2004.07.012
  29. F.G. Kuruvilla, A.F. Shamji, S.M. Sternson, P.J. Hergenrother, S.L. Schreiber. Dissection of a glucose-sensitive signaling pathway using diversity-oriented synthesis and small molecule microarrays. Nature 416 (2002) 653-7. https://doi.org/10.1038/416653a
  30. S.M. Sternson, J.C. Wong, C.M. Grozinger, S.L. Schreiber. Synthesis of 7200 small molecules based on a substructural analysis of the histone deacetylase inhibitors trichostatin and trapoxin, Org. Lett. 3 (2001) 4239-42. https://doi.org/10.1021/ol016915f
  31. S.M. Sternson, J.B. Louca, J.C. Wong, S.L. Schreiber. Split-pool synthesis of 1,3-dioxanes leading to arrayed stock solutions of single compounds sufficient for multiple cell-based and protein assays. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 123 (2001) 1740-47. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja0036108
  32. S.M. Sternson and S.L. Schreiber. An acid- and base-stable o-nitrobenzyl photolabile linker for solid phase organic synthesis. Tetrahedron Lett. 39 (1998) 7451-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-4039(98)01668-2

Invited Reviews

    1. S.M. Sternson. Exploring internal state-coding across the rodent brain. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 65 (2020) 20-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2020.08.009
    2. S.M. Sternson & D. Bleakman. Chemogenetics: drug-controlled gene therapies for neural circuit disorders. Cell & Gene Therapy Insights 6 (2020) 1079-94. https://doi.org/10.18609%2Fcgti.2020.112
    3. D. Atasoy & S.M. Sternson. Chemogenetic tools for causal cellular and neuronal biology. Physiol. Rev. 98 (2018) 391-418. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00009.2017
    4. S.M. Sternson & A.K. Eiselt. Three pillars for the neural control of appetite. Annu Rev Physiol. 79 (2017) 401-23.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-physiol-021115-104948
    5. S.M. Sternson, D. Atasoy, J.N. Betley, F.E. Henry, S. Xu. An emerging technology framework for the neurobiology of appetite. Cell Metabolism 23 (2016) 234-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2015.12.002
    6. S.M. Sternson & D. Atasoy. AGRP neuron circuits that regulate appetite. Neuroendocrinology 100 (2014) 95-102. https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-981-13-1286-1_1
    7. S.M. Sternson & B.L. Roth. Chemogenetic tools to interrogate brain functions. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 37 (2014) 387-407. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-071013-014048
    8. S.M. Sternson, J.N. Betley, Z.F. Huang Cao. Neural circuits and motivational processes for hunger. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 23 (2013) 353-60.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2013.04.006
    9. S.M. Sternson. Hypothalamic survival circuits: blueprints for purposive behaviors. Neuron https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.02.018
    10. J.N. Betley & S.M. Sternson. Adeno-associated viral vectors for mapping, monitoring, and manipulating neural circuits. Hum. Gene Ther. 22 (2011) 669-77. https://doi.org/10.1089/hum.2010.204

Invited Commentary

      1. Kim & S.M. Sternson. Exercise molecule burns away hunger. Nature 606 (2022) 655- https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01321-x 656.
      2. S.M. Sternson. Seeing the forest for the trees in obesity. Nat. Metab. 2 (2020) 661-662. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-020-0259-9
      3. H. Yang & S.M. Sternson. Raphe circuits on the menu. Cell 170 (2017) 409-410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.07.017
      4. S.M. Sternson. Hunger: the carrot and the stick. Molecular Metabolism 5 (2016) 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.molmet.2015.10.002
      5. A. Adamantidis, S. Arber, J.S. Bains, E. Bamberg, A. Bonci, G. Buzsáki, J.A. Cardin, R.M. Costa, Y. Dan, Y. Goda, A.M. Graybiel, M. Häusser, P. Hegemann, J.R. Huguenard, T.R. Insel, P.H. Janak, D. Johnston, S.A. Josselyn, C. Koch, A.C. Kreitzer, C. Lüscher, R.C. Malenka, G. Miesenböck, G. Nagel, B. Roska, M.J. Schnitzer, K.V. Shenoy, I. Soltesz, S.M. Sternson, R.W. Tsien, R.Y. Tsien, G.G. Turrigiano, K.M. Tye, R.I. Wilson. Optogenetics: 10 years after ChR2 in neurons—views from the community. Nature Neurosci 18 (2015) 1202-12. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4106
      6. J.N. Betley and S.M. Sternson. Applying the brakes: When to stop eating. Neuron 88 (2015) 440-1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.10.034
      7. S.M. Sternson. Neuron transplantation partially reverses an obesity disorder in mice. Cell   Metabolism 15 (2012) 133-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2012.01.011
      8. S.M. Sternson. Let them eat fat. Nature 477 (2011) 166-7. https://doi.org/10.1038/477166a

Book Chapters

        1. D. Atasoy and S.M. Sternson. (2016) “Functional and Anatomical Dissection of Feeding Circuits.” In Neuroendocrinology of Appetite. Suzanne Dickson and Julian Mercer, Eds. John Wiley & Sons.
        2. Sternson, S.M. (2018) “Man Can Do What He Wants But He Cannot Will What He Wants.”  In Think Tank: Forty Neuroscientists Explore the Biological Roots of Human Experience. David Linden, Ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.