Insight Films
NOMIS Insight films highlight the unique research journeys of NOMIS Awardees that, throughout the course of their NOMIS-supported projects, have generated new discoveries and insights, initiated new interdisciplinary collaborations, and inspired novel questions and new lines of inquiry. As these projects draw to a close, Insight films illuminate the pioneering foundational research that is “creating a spark” in the world of science.
Victoria Orphan | NOMIS Insight
How do the smallest forms of life shape the chemical balance of our planet — and make life itself possible?
From 2018 to 2024, NOMIS Awardee Victoria Orphan pursued this fundamental question at the California Institute of Technology through her project Understanding Virus–Host Dynamics in Ocean Ecosystems. Her research illuminates the hidden microbial processes that have shaped Earth for billions of years, revealing how microbes and the viruses that infect them regulate the cycling of carbon and nitrogen in the ocean, influence methane fluxes, and drive evolutionary change through gene transfer across life forms.
Manos Tsakiris | NOMIS Insight
How do we relate to and respond to each other in a culture powered by images? This question was the focus of the Body and Image in Arts and Sciences (BIAS) research project led by NOMIS Awardee Manos Tsakiris at the Warburg Institute, University of London, from 2016 to 2022. Tsakiris’ Insight film tells the story of the BIAS project, from conception to studies to insights.
Integrating perspectives from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy and the arts, the BIAS project sought to shed light on the interdependency between bodily responses and cognitive mechanisms in the way humans respond to images—in particular, how biological mechanisms and cultural factors shape human relationships in a culture powered by images.
Tony Wyss-Coray | NOMIS Insight
What is the identity of blood-borne rejuvenating factors? Where do they come from? How do they enter the brain and communicate with it? What is the genetic basis of brain rejuvenation? How does the brain age in the first place? NOMIS Awardee Tony Wyss-Coray pursued these questions through his research project, Brain Rejuvenation Factors From Blood, at Stanford University from 2017 to 2022. Wyss-Coray’s Insight film presents the project, detailing the approaches and discoveries that have changed our understanding of brain aging.
Karl Deisseroth | NOMIS Insight
To better understand the brain and to design better treatments for those who suffer from psychiatric disorders such as dissociative states, NOMIS Awardee Karl Deisseroth and his lab have developed a fundamental approach to look at the activity of neurons across the entire brain during behavior. The technology, optogenetics, uses light to turn on or off individual types of neurons using genes from microbes and was the focus of his NOMIS research project, Discovering the Causal Principles Underlying Brain-Wide Dynamics.
Through the project, which was conducted at Stanford University from 2017 to 2022, Deisseroth and his team discovered a new class of light-sensitive molecules, which make light-responsive proteins that move charged particles across membranes — including one called Carmine. This transformative discovery enabled Deisseroth and other neuroscientists to investigate the brain’s activity noninvasively. He then introduced Fast Light and Calcium-Regulated Expression (FLiCRE), creating a neural activity map related to behavior in mice. This was followed by another groundbreaking discovery — the identification of cells and circuits in a specific area of the brain implicated in the subjective state of dissociation.
Svante Pääbo | NOMIS Insight
What sets humans apart from other organisms? This fascinating question has been the focal point of NOMIS Awardee Svante Pääbo’s research for several decades. Pääbo sequenced the Neandertal genome, identifying genetic changes in the human genome that differentiate humans from Neandertals, chimpanzees and other apes. These differences constitute a “genetic recipe” for modern humans. He also discovered a previously unknown hominin, Denisova, and later that interbreeding occurred between Neandertals and Denisovans, which has implications for understanding the human brain and health.
