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Main Menu - Block
- Overview
- Anatomy and Histology
- Cryo-Electron Microscopy
- Electron Microscopy
- Flow Cytometry
- Gene Targeting and Transgenics
- Immortalized Cell Line Culture
- Integrative Imaging
- Invertebrate Shared Resource
- Janelia Experimental Technology
- Mass Spectrometry
- Media Prep
- Molecular Genomics
- Primary & iPS Cell Culture
- Project Pipeline Support
- Project Technical Resources
- Quantitative Genomics
- Scientific Computing Software
- Scientific Computing Systems
- Viral Tools
- Vivarium
![](https://www.janelia.org/sites/default/files/styles/epsa_200x200/public/pictures/sprustonn.jpg?itok=8qmckasT)
![nelson hiking picture](https://www.janelia.org/sites/default/files/styles/epsa_580x326/public/nelson_hike3.jpg?itok=TMDZBbcA)
Biography
Spruston was named the Executive Director of HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus in 2024.
He is responsible for coordinating the research areas at Janelia to execute on Janelia’s mission and vision. He works closely with the Heads of Janelia’s research areas to determine our research priorities and strategies.
Spruston also oversees a team that coordinates a number of science-related operations at Janelia, including recruitment and review of Group Leaders and Fellows (Zarixia Zavala-Ruiz), Conferences Programs (Janine Stevens), the Visiting Scientist Program (Zavala-Ruiz), Student and Postdoctoral Programs (Erik Snapp), Shared Support Teams (Reed George), Gene-Targeting and Transgenics (Caiying Guo), and Project Teams (Wyatt Korff).
Spruston’s lab explores the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory, with an emphasis on the properties of a diverse collection of cell types and how they come together to form a circuit that mediates the learning and recall of episodic memories.
Spruston obtained a B.Sc. degree in Physiology from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada (1981-85) and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, USA (1985-91). He did postdoctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany (1992-95) and then spent 16 years on the faculty at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA (1995-2011) before moving to Janelia.
Education
Awards
Memberships
Daegu, Korea
May 2012
Frederick, Maryland
September 2012
With my wife, Danette
December 2012
Great Wall of China
May 2013
West Virginia
May 2013
Janelia Gym
July 2013
...and Brett Mensh
Janelia
January 2014
Janelia Gym
July 2014
Jeff Magee, Rhonda Magee, Joel Luethi (back), David Hunt
September 2014
Spruston lab with the band (Shortness of Breath)
September 2014
With my wife, Danette
December 2014