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Welcome to the 2026 Grass Fellows

Welcome to the 2026 Grass Fellows

The Grass Foundation is pleased to announce the 2026 Grass Fellows. This year’s cohort marks the 75th anniversary of the Grass Fellowship Program. Since 1951, the Grass Fellowship has brought early-career investigators to the MBL for 14 weeks to pursue a self-designed, independent research project in neuroscience. The Grass Foundation selects and provides full support [...]
Apply for the 2026 Henry Grass Rising Stars in Neuroscience Award

Apply for the 2026 Henry Grass Rising Stars in Neuroscience Award

The Henry Grass Rising Stars in Neuroscience Award seeks to increase the visibility of postdoctoral scientists from groups under-represented in neuroscience. >Apply by April 1, 2026 Established in 2021 in honor of Dr. Henry Grass, a Grass Foundation Trustee and ardent supporter of neuroscience and education, this Award recognizes outstanding postdoctoral neuroscientists from underrepresented groups [...]
SfN conference

Grass Community Guide for SfN 2025

For those traveling to the 2025 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, you can catch up with Grass Fellows and their recent work. Below is a working list of sessions featuring Grass Fellows and activities supported by The Grass Foundation. To request an addition to this list please email info@grassfoundation.org. Additionally, The [...]
Apply for the 2026 Grass Fellowship

Apply for the 2026 Grass Fellowship

The Grass Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2026 Grass Fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. For this application year, the Foundation is piloting a new application process with a priority deadline and a final deadline. Applicants who apply by the priority deadline of October 15, 2025, have the opportunity […]

a black and white photo of a chicken walking across a rope

How Birds Balance

Birds and humans share an ability that’s not too common among our tetrapod vertebrate cousins–walking on two feet. While some animals can manage on their hindlimbs for a limited time (think prairie dogs, gorillas, and running frilled lizards), true bipedalism is only found among humans, birds, and a few other animals like kangaroos. It’s a […]

Photo of lamprey up close, attached to a piece of glass, its rows of teeth visible.

Lampreys in the Future

With its suction-cup-like mouth, rings of sharp teeth, and toothed tongue, lampreys attach themselves to fish and feast on their blood and other bodily fluids, sometimes killing them in the process. It’s a strategy that has served them well, as they have remained relatively unchanged for over 300 million years. Described as one of the […]

Announcing the 2025 Grass Fellows

Announcing the 2025 Grass Fellows

Welcome to this year’s cohort of Grass Fellows! These eight early-career scientists will soon be in the Grass Lab at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to spend the summer conducting research on topics ranging from pain sensation in sharks to ocean acidification and behavior in sea slugs. Zeeshan Banday – University of […]

Microscopy of a tardigrade, with a black background, and the tardigrade has 4 of its legs visible, its body shades of purple and green.

Time for Tardigrades

If there was an official fan club for tardigrades, also known as water bears, its president would be Ana Lyons, Ph.D. She first learned about these charismatic microscopic animals on a trip to the library as a teenager, and she’s been a lifelong enthusiast of these creatures that are found in nearly every ecosystem imaginable. […]

Andrea Gaede with a tree frog in her hand

How Gliding Tree Frogs See the World

There are over 7,000 described species of frogs, and they live in a wide variety of habitats. Some spend nearly their entire lives in the trees, and among those tree frogs, a few have evolved specialized features for gliding or parachuting between branches. For scientists like 2024 Grass Fellow Andrea “Dre” Gaede, gliding tree frogs […]

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