Evolutionary Neuroscience

Digital rendering of primate brains in skulls

The Laboratory for Evolutionary Neuroscience is dedicated to studying the evolution of brain structure and molecular function in primates and other mammals. Our research interests center on comparative investigations of brains from a diversity of species, including humans, to make discoveries about the evolution of behavior, communication abilities, cognition, vulnerability to neurodegenerative illnesses, and more.

The lab is also the biobank repository of the National Chimpanzee Brain Resource, which serves to facilitate research advancement through the collection and distribution of chimpanzee neuroimaging scans, postmortem brain samples, atlas tools, and related genetic, health, life history, and behavioral datasets.

Explore the National Chimpanzee Brain Resource

Research Interests

Research in this lab explores how brains differ among species and how this variation is correlated with behavior, shaped by the rules of developmental biology, impacted by experience, and encoded in the genome. In particular, research compares the anatomy and molecular function of the human brain to that of the great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. The lab also investigates brain structure changes across the lifespan among primate species. Researchers in the lab are mapping the evolution of brain structure and examining the correlation between brain size and gene expression, energetics, neuronal morphology, and cell type distributions.

Select Recent Publications

M. Ghibaudi, C. La Rosa, N. Telitsyn, J.-M. Graїc, C.G. Faulkes, C.C. Sherwood, and L. Bonfanti (2025) Multispecies characterization of immature neurons in the mammalian amygdala reveals their expansion in primates. PLOS Biology 23: e3003322.

A. Gómez-Robles, C. Nicolau, J.B. Smaers, and C.C. Sherwood (2024) The evolution of human altriciality and brain development in comparative context. Nature Ecology and Evolution 8: 133-146.

C.D. Stimpson, J.B. Smaers, M.A. Raghanti, K.A. Phillips, B. Jacobs, W.D. Hopkins, P.R. Hof, and C.C. Sherwood (2024) Evolutionary scaling and cognitive correlates of primate frontal cortex microstructure. Brain Structure and Function 229: 1823-1838.

M.T. Karl, Y.D. Kim, K. Rajendran, P.R. Manger, and C.C. Sherwood (2024) Invariance of mitochondria and synapses in the primary visual cortex of mammals provides insight into energetics and function. The Journal of Comparative Neurology 532: e25669.

V. Kulik, L.D. Reyes, and C.C. Sherwood (2023) Coevolution of language and tools in the human brain: an ALE meta-analysis of neural activation during syntactic processing and tool use. Progress in Brain Research 275: 93-115.

E.E. Guevara, W.D. Hopkins, P.R. Hof, J.J. Ely, B.J. Bradley, and C.C. Sherwood (2021) Comparative analysis reveals distinctive epigenetic features of the human cerebellum. PLOS Genetics 17: e1009506.

For more publications visit Dr. Chet Sherwood's Google Scholar page.

Lab Researchers

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Former Lab Members

Nicole Barger - Science Analyst and Evaluator, National Science Foundation
Sarah Barks - Assistant Dean and Director of Analytics and Operations, Grinnell College
Amy Bauernfeind - Associate Professor of Anatomy in Neuroscience & Vice Chair of Education, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Serena Bianchi - Science Communicator In-Residence, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Canada
Christine Charvet - Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology, Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine
Alexandra de Sousa - Postdoctoral Scientist, Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology, Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine
Anastasia Dorenbusch - Research Assistant, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University
Tetyana Duka - Research Laboratory Manager, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center
Melissa Edler - Research Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kent State University
Begün Erbaba - Postdoctoral Affiliate, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University
Aida Gómez-Robles - Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
Tanyaradzwa Guduza
Elaine Guevara - Lecturer, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University
Dustin Howard - PhD Student, Department of Biology, The George Washington University
Aminu Imam - Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Molly Karl - Laboratory Manager, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Fenna Krienen - Assistant Professor, Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University
Veronika Kulik - PhD Student, Department of Neuroscience, UCSF
Daniel Miller - Assistant Professor, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Gerard Muntané Medina - Senior Researcher, Pere Virgili Institute, Spain
Mary Ann Raghanti - Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kent State University
Laura Reyes - Scientific Program Analyst, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
Natalie Schenker-Ahmed - Project Manager, Center for Multiomic Human Brain Cell Atlas, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Alison Sherwood
Muhammad Spocter - Professor, Department of Anatomy, Des Moines University
Nicky Staes - Postdoctoral Scientist, Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp & Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Cheryl Stimpson - Senior Research Associate, The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
Esther Stoppani
Andrey Verendeev - Scientific Communications Manager, Red Nucleus