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2025
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Neuroscience
USA
2026

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Best Scientists

D-Index
171
Citations
120495
World Ranking
832
National Ranking
500

Neuroscience

D-Index
172
Citations
126043
World Ranking
68
National Ranking
45

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Neuroscience in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Neuroscience in United States Leader Award
  • 2011 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2011 - Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Medical Research Award
  • 2008 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 2005 - Perl-UNC Prize, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Discovery of Mechanisms that Underlie Long-term Synaptic Plasticity
  • 2005 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 2004 - Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
  • 1990 - Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Overview

Robert C. Malenka is affiliated with Stanford University in the United States. Their research primarily falls within the field of Neuroscience, with a focus on subfields such as Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, Clinical Psychology, and Neurology.

The scientist's work addresses several main topics including Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior, Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research, Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling, Psychedelics and Drug Studies, Memory and Neural Mechanisms, Neural Dynamics and Brain Function, and Neuroendocrine Regulation and Behavior.

Frequent publication venues for Robert C. Malenka's work include:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Trends in Neurosciences
  • Nature
  • Biological Psychiatry
  • Neuron

Notable recent papers authored or co-authored by Malenka include:

  • "Anterior cingulate inputs to nucleus accumbens control the social transfer of pain and analgesia," 2021, Science
  • "Deep posteromedial cortical rhythm in dissociation," 2020, Nature
  • "Amygdala-Midbrain Connections Modulate Appetitive and Aversive Learning," 2020, Neuron
  • "5-HT modulation of a medial septal circuit tunes social memory stability," 2021, Nature
  • "A Molecular Calcium Integrator Reveals a Striatal Cell Type Driving Aversion," 2020, Cell

Frequent co-authors working alongside Robert C. Malenka are:

  • Boris D. Heifets
  • Matthew B. Pomrenze
  • Casey H. Halpern
  • Austen B. Casey
  • Fred Kop

Throughout their career, Robert C. Malenka has received several awards including:

  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2011)
  • Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Medical Research Award (2011)
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2008)
  • Perl-UNC Prize, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for Discovery of Mechanisms that Underlie Long-term Synaptic Plasticity (2005)
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2005)
  • Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) (2004)
  • Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (1990)

Best Publications

  • LTP and LTD: an embarrassment of riches.

    Robert C. Malenka;Mark F. Bear

  • Long-Term Potentiation--A Decade of Progress?

    Robert C. Malenka;Roger A. Nicoll

  • NEURAL MECHANISMS OF ADDICTION: The Role of Reward-Related Learning and Memory

    Steven E. Hyman;Robert C. Malenka;Eric J. Nestler

  • AMPA Receptor Trafficking and Synaptic Plasticity

    Roberto Malinow;Robert C. Malenka

  • Synaptic plasticity: multiple forms, functions, and mechanisms.

    Ami Citri;Robert C Malenka

  • Synaptic scaling mediated by glial TNF-α

    David Stellwagen;Robert C. Malenka

  • Addiction and the brain: The neurobiology of compulsion and its persistence

    Steven E. Hyman;Robert C. Malenka

  • Synaptic plasticity: LTP and LTD

    Mark F. Bear;Robert C. Malenka

  • Control of Synaptic Strength by Glial TNFα

    Eric C. Beattie;David Stellwagen;Wade Morishita;Jacqueline C. Bresnahan

  • Synaptic plasticity and addiction

    Julie A. Kauer;Robert C. Malenka

  • Natural Neural Projection Dynamics Underlying Social Behavior

    Lisa A. Gunaydin;Logan Grosenick;Joel C. Finkelstein;Isaac V. Kauvar

  • Evidence for silent synapses: Implications for the expression of LTP

    John T.R. Isaac;Roger A. Nicoll;Robert C. Malenka

  • Plaque-independent disruption of neural circuits in Alzheimer's disease mouse models.

    Albert Y. Hsia;Eliezer Masliah;Lisa Mcconlogue;Gui Qiu Yu

  • Input-specific control of reward and aversion in the ventral tegmental area

    Stephan Lammel;Byung Kook Lim;Chen Ran;Kee Wui Huang

  • Drugs of abuse and stress trigger a common synaptic adaptation in dopamine neurons.

    Daniel Saal;Yan Dong;Antonello Bonci;Robert C Malenka

  • Mechanisms underlying induction of homosynaptic long-term depression in area CA1 of the hippocampus.

    Rosel M. Mulkey;Robert C. Malenka

  • Single cocaine exposure in vivo induces long-term potentiation in dopamine neurons

    Mark A. Ungless;Jennifer L. Whistler;Robert C. Malenka;Antonello Bonci

  • NMDA Receptor-Dependent Long-Term Potentiation and Long-Term Depression (LTP/LTD)

    Christian Lüscher;Robert C. Malenka

  • Involvement of a calcineurin/ inhibitor-1 phosphatase cascade in hippocampal long-term depression

    Rosel M. Mulkey;Shogo Endo;Shirish Shenolikar;Robert C. Malenka

  • An essential role for postsynaptic calmodulin and protein kinase activity in long-term potentiation

    Robert C. Malenka;Julie A. Kauer;David J. Perkel;Michael D. Mauk

  • A G protein couples serotonin and GABAB receptors to the same channels in hippocampus.

    R. Andrade;R. C. Malenka;R. A. Nicoll

Frequent Co-Authors

Roger A. Nicoll
Roger A. Nicoll University of California, San Francisco
Thomas C. Südhof
Thomas C. Südhof Stanford University
Karl Deisseroth
Karl Deisseroth Stanford University
Wade Morishita
Wade Morishita Stanford University School of Medicine
Liqun Luo
Liqun Luo Stanford University
Antonello Bonci
Antonello Bonci National Institute on Drug Abuse
Eric J. Nestler
Eric J. Nestler Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Julie A. Kauer
Julie A. Kauer Stanford University
Christian Lüscher
Christian Lüscher University of Geneva
Byung Kook Lim
Byung Kook Lim University of California, San Diego

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