Neuroscientist Dr. Mariano Belluscio of Rutgers University is one of 10 2008 Pew Latin American Fellows in Biomedical Sciences awarded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Launched in 1991, the Pew Latin American Fellows Program in Biomedical Sciences helps develop highly trained Latin American scientists who show potential for stimulating and contributing to the growth of quality biomedical science as well as fostering collaboration between scientists in Latin America and the United States. Each fellow receives $60,000 for a two-year preparational period.
Belluscio is a graduate fellow at Rutgers University in Newark working in Dr. Gyorgy Buzsaki's laboratory at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience. Belluscio explores how neurons in the brain act together to record and recall memories. Combining state-of-the-art techniques for simultaneously monitoring the activities of 50-100 different neurons in an awake rat with a novel behavioral test designed to encourage animals to think back and ahead, Belluscio examines the patterns of neural activity that occur when rats remember what they did before and plan to do next. His findings could deepen our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that form the basis of memory, planning and decision-making.
Belluscio received his doctoral degree in neurophysiology from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2008.