Beth Stevens, Ph.D.

Beth Stevens received her Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2003 from the University of Maryland College Park and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2008. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research, Dana Foundation Award (Brain and Immunoimaging), Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging award, John Merck Scholar Program and MacArthur Fellows Program.

Stevens’ laboratory seeks to understand how neuron-glia communication facilitates the formation, elimination and plasticity of synapses — the points of communication between neurons — during both healthy development and disease. A major goal is to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying activity-dependent synapse elimination during health and disease, with emphasis on the role of microglia and immune molecules in this process. Using the visual system as the primary model system, her lab employs a combination of live imaging, molecular, biochemical and neuroanatomical approaches.