Dr. Gary Aston-Jones is a distinguished neuroscientist and visionary leader in behavioral and circuit neuroscience with over four decades of transformative research. He currently serves as the Murray and Charlotte Strongwater Endowed Chair in Neuroscience and Brain Health and as Director of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. Appointed in 2014 as the inaugural Director of the Brain Health Institute, he has strategically developed five centers of excellence and recruited 35 faculty members, significantly elevating Rutgers' prominence in neuroscience research. His leadership has positioned the institute as a national hub for innovative approaches to neuropsychiatric disorders and brain health research.
Dr. Aston-Jones pioneered groundbreaking discoveries regarding the locus coeruleus norepinephrine system, revealing its critical role beyond sleep-wake regulation to include attention modulation, stress responses, and adaptive behaviors in dynamic environments. His laboratory investigates the neural mechanisms underlying reward processing, motivation, affect, and vulnerability to addiction through electrophysiology, neuroanatomy, and behavioral analyses. This research has established foundational knowledge with profound implications for understanding and treating Alzheimer's disease, autism, attention deficit disorder, addiction, and depression. His work has fundamentally advanced the field's understanding of how brain circuitry mediates cognitive function and dysfunction across multiple psychiatric conditions.
As a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Aston-Jones has significantly shaped neuroscience research through his leadership and collaborative initiatives. He continues to develop novel therapeutic approaches for neuropsychiatric disorders while expanding research into pain mechanisms and auditory neuroscience at Rutgers. His vision encompasses a future where precision therapeutics are readily available for brain disorders and pain relief occurs without addiction risk. Dr. Aston-Jones remains at the forefront of translating basic neuroscience discoveries into clinical applications that transform mental health treatment and improve human wellbeing.
