Carla J. Shatz, Ph.D.

Scientists at Janelia work together in multidisciplinary teams to solve challenging biological problems that are difficult to address in other research settings.

Many lab spaces at Janelia feature modular designs and natural light.

Credit: Brad Feinknopf

Occupying 689 wooded acres along the Potomac River, Janelia Farm provides a variety of services and facilities to support its diverse community of scientists and staff—inside and outside the lab.

A view of the Janelia Farm Research Campus at dusk.

Credit: Brad Feinknopf

The Janelia Farm model frees scientists of constraints commonly found in other research environments, providing access to world-class resources and a talented support staff.

Graduate scholar John Tuthill prepares a Drosophila specimen for imaging.

Credit: James Kegley

In addition to our resident scientists and fellows, we offer visiting scientists, graduate, and undergraduate candidates a range of scientific programs.

Graduate scholar Arbora Resulaj (left) and her mentor, Janelia Fellow Dmitry Rinberg (right).

Credit: James Kegley

Janelia Farm regularly hosts scientific meetings, ranging from workshops to intensive, specialized conferences. See what's coming up and visit the archive of past events.

Janelia's large auditorium seats 250 people.

Credit: Matt Staley

Janelia provides outstanding employment opportunities, at all levels.

Credit: James Kegley

Many tools developed in Janelia Farm labs are made freely available to outside researchers, while others are taking shape through collaborations with industry, academia, and government.

A virtual arena for the study of flight in insects.

Credit: James Kegley

Janelia’s sense of community comes from a core belief that people of diverse disciplines and backgrounds can accomplish great things when working with a common purpose.

Research specialist Trevor Wardill (left) and group leader Vivek Jayaraman (right).

Credit: James Kegley

Director, Bio-X
Sapp Family Provostial Professor
Professor of Biology and Neurobiology, James Clark Center
Stanford University

Carla J. Shatz's research aims to understand how early developing brain circuits are transformed into adult connections during critical periods of development. Her work, which focuses on the development of the mammalian visual system, has relevance not only for treating disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, but also for understanding how the nervous and immune systems interact.

Shatz graduated from Radcliffe College in 1969 with a B.A. in Chemistry. She was honored with a Marshall Scholarship to study at University College London, where she received an M.Phil. in Physiology in 1971. In 1976, she received a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Harvard Medical School, where she studied with Nobel Laureates David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel. During this period, she was appointed as a Harvard Junior Fellow. From 1976 to 1978 she obtained postdoctoral training with Pasko Rakic in the Department of Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School. In 1978, Shatz moved to Stanford University, where she attained the rank of Professor of Neurobiology in 1989. In 1992, she moved her laboratory to the University of California, Berkeley, where she was Professor of Neurobiology and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

In 2000, she assumed the Chair of the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School as the Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology. She returned to Stanford in 2007, where she directs Bio-X, Stanford's pioneering biosciences program that brings together faculty from across the entire university—clinicians, biologists, engineers, physicists, computer scientists—to unlock the secrets of the human body.

Shatz has received many awards including the Gill Prize in Neuroscience in 2006. In 1992, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1995 to the National Academy of Sciences, in 1997 to the American Philosophical Society, and in 1999 to the Institute of Medicine. In 2009 she received the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Neuroscience. Most recently, Shatz was awarded an honorary degree from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.