Marina Rachel Picciotto (born June 22, 1963) is an American

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

known for her work on the role of

nicotinic acetylcholine receptors Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, or nAChRs, are receptor polypeptides that respond to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Nicotinic receptors also respond to drugs such as the agonist nicotine. They are found in the central and peripheral ner ...

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...

, memory, and reward behaviors. She is the Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in the Child Study Center and the Departments of Neuroscience and of Pharmacology at the

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

School of Medicine. She was named Director of the Yale University Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program in September 2023. From 2015 to 2023, she was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the '' Journal of Neuroscience''. She served as President of the Society for Neuroscience from 2023-2024. She is currently President Elect of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

Education and early life

Born in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in Monroe County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-most populous city in Indiana and ...

on June 22, 1963, Picciotto moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

as an infant and graduated from

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...

in 1981. Picciotto received her B.S. in biology from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1985, and her Ph.D. in 1992 from

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

. She carried out post-doctoral work at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from 1992-1995.

Scientific career

Picciotto began her career in neuroscience as an undergraduate researcher at

, where she worked with Richard Scheller. There she discovered that the

FMRFamide FMRFamide (H-Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2) is a neuropeptide from a broad family of FMRFamide-related peptides (FaRPs) all sharing an -RFamide sequence at their C-terminus. First identified in Hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), it is thought to play an ...

gene gives rise to multiple copies of the neuropeptide. She went on to PhD work with Paul Greengard at

where she cloned the gene for calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase 1 As a Human Frontier Science Program postdoctoral fellow with Jean-Pierre Changeux at the

, Picciotto produced the first mouse knock-out lacking a nicotinic receptor subunit. She returned to the United States in 1995 to join the

faculty as an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

and rising through the ranks to become the Charles B.G. Murphy Professor in Psychiatry in 2008. Her group is known for its discoveries in nicotine addiction and brain circuits. Recent work from Picciotto showed that pre-natal exposure to nicotine has profound effects on adult behavior. In press interviews, she has expressed concerns about the use of e-cigarettes and low-dose nicotine cigarettes.

Editorial

In 2015, Picciotto was named editor-in-chief of ''

The Journal of Neuroscience ''The Journal of Neuroscience'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Society for Neuroscience. It covers empirical research on all aspects of neuroscience. Its editor-in-chief is Sabine Kastner (Princeton University), who s ...

''. After taking over leadership at the journal, she instituted a number of changes including eliminating submission fees for Society for Neuroscience members and restoring the ability of authors to publish supplementary data alongside their papers. Picciotto has also instituted new controls on statistical analysis and experimental design reporting. In a move to support pre-print publishing, Picciotto added ''The Journal of Neuroscience'' to the list of journals that will accept submissions directly from

bioRxiv bioRxiv (pronounced "bio-archive") is an open access preprint repository for the biological sciences co-founded by John Inglis and Richard Sever in November 2013. It was hosted by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) until March 11, 2025, whe ...

. She also started initiatives on social media to thank scientists who participated in

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

at the journal.

Awards

President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

presented Picciotto with the

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. T ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

in 2000. She received the Jacob P. Waletzky Memorial Award for Innovative Research in Drug Addiction and Alcohol Research from The Society for Neuroscience in 2007. Picciotto was elected as an AAAS fellow of the

in 2014, and was elected to the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

in 2012. Picciotto was elected President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, for the 2018-19 term. In 2019, Picciotto was among 11 scientists awarded the National Institutes of Health’s Pioneer Award. That same year, she was awarded the Bernice Grafstein award for advancing the careers of women in neuroscience. She received the Andrew Carnegie Prize for Mind and Brain Science in 2020 and she was awarded the Langley Award for Basic Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2021. Picciotto was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024 for her work in the field of neuroscience.

Selected publications

* * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Picciotto, Marina 1963 births Living people Members of the National Academy of Medicine Yale University faculty American women neuroscientists American neuroscientists Rockefeller University alumni Stanford University alumni Hunter College High School alumni Scientists from New York (state) Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers