Stephen Smith

Professor Stephen Smith, now enjoying emeritus status, remains actively engaged in research at the intersection of computational neuroscience, microscopy, and genomic data science. His recent work has revealed transcriptomic evidence for a previously unrecognized ubiquity of local neuropeptide signaling and its potential role in memory engram formation. From 1990 to 2014, he led a dynamic laboratory at Stanford that focused on brain development, structure, function, and disease progression, often pioneering new imaging methods to tackle complex experimental challenges. Notable achievements from his lab include the invention of a fiber-optic spectrometer for calcium sensing, which facilitated groundbreaking discoveries in neuronal calcium dynamics and synaptic function. After closing his Stanford lab, Professor Smith took on a Senior Investigator role at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, where he enhanced his data science skills and contributed to the production of high-quality neuroscience data. As an Allen Institute Investigator Emeritus and an Allen Neural Dynamics Fellow, he plans to return to Stanford campus life in Spring 2024.