Minimizing Bias in Experimental Design and Execution

John H. Morrison, PhD, is the director of the California National Primate Research Center and Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at UC Davis. Morrison earned his bachelor’s degree and PhD from Johns Hopkins University, and completed postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Floyd E. Bloom at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Morrison’s research program focuses primarily on the neurobiology of aging and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease, particularly as they relate to cellular and synaptic organization of cerebral cortex. Within this broad arena, his lab works specifically on the interactions between endocrine factors (e.g., estrogen, stress steroids) and aging and the synaptic determinants of cognitive aging. He has published over 300 articles on cortical organization, Alzheimer’s disease, the neurobiology of cognitive aging, and the effects of stress on cortical circuitry. Deeply committed to the public communication of neuroscience, he was a member of the BrainFacts.org Advisory Board, which helped guide the development of BrainFacts.org from its inception, prior to becoming Editor-in-Chief.

Christophe Bernard, PhD, is the PhysioNet team leader in at the Institute of Neuroscience Systems at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). His research focuses on understanding how physiological and pathological behaviors emerge from the organization and reorganization of the underlying neuronal architecture, with an emphasis on epilepsy. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of eNeuro.

Dr. Patrick Hof is the Irving and Dorothy Regenstreif Research Professor of Neuroscience and the vice chair of the Fishberg Department of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. He studies the selective neuronal vulnerability in dementing illness and aging and uses quantitative, high-resolution, morphologic methods to determine the cellular features that render the human brain uniquely vulnerable to degenerative disorders. Hof’s laboratory has established an international reputation in quantitative approaches to neuroanatomy and studies of brain evolution, and he currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Comparative Neurology.