Scripps Florida Appoints Innovative Neuroscientist

By Eric Sauter

The Scripps Research Institute has appointed Brock Grill as an assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience. Previously, Grill was a member of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota.

“We’re extremely pleased to have Brock join our department,” said Ron Davis, chair of the Scripps Research Department of Neuroscience. “His innovative work on neuronal and synapse development will help us get to the bottom of how the brain develops, and what exactly goes wrong in conditions of abnormal brain development.”

“I’m excited about joining Scripps Florida,” said Grill, who lives in West Palm Beach, FL. “The resources here, particularly the drug screening technology, are exceptional and will help tremendously in expanding my research. In addition, Ron Davis is doing a superb job of assembling a great neuroscience faculty—I was onboard very early on after hearing Ron’s vision for the department and meeting the talented people he had hired.”

Grill received a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from the University of Alberta, Canada, in 1998, and a PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia in 2003. He conducted postdoctoral work at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 2004 to 2007 and Stanford University from 2007 to 2009.

Grill’s research is focused on understanding how different events in neuronal development are coordinated on a molecular level. The formation and wiring of the brain requires the intricate interplay of a series of complex molecular events. By unraveling the molecular mechanisms that govern neuronal development in the roundworm C. elegans, Grill said he hopes to gain insight into how neurons manage numerous signals from their environment to form a neural network. Such knowledge has tremendous potential to help generate new therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases, as well as injury to the central nervous system from stroke and trauma.

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