Jonathan Sebat

Professor
University of California, San Diego

Jonathan Sebat is professor of psychiatry and cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and chief of the Beyster Center for Molecular Genomics of Neuropsychiatric Diseases. He investigates the molecular basis of neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

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The genome offers a recipe, not a blueprint, for the brain

During brain development, genes set the rules and turn the knobs; self-organization does much of the rest.

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Autism research involving monkeys contends with uphill battle

Macaques and marmosets recapitulate the condition’s core traits better than mice can, but funding uncertainty and challenges at primate centers in the United States could make this work difficult to continue.

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2 November 2026 | 8 min read
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When is self-organization a mechanism in brain development?

Retinal waves offer a powerful example of a self-organizing system that can build structure without external guidance. The field would do well to embrace such phenomena more broadly as a type of mechanistic explanation.

By P. Robin Hiesinger
2 November 2026 | 6 min read