Sheila Nirenberg
Going from scientist to entrepreneur: things that are useful to know
Sheila Nirenberg is a professor of neuroscience at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and the founder of two start up companies in New York City – one that develops new kinds of prosthetic devices, and one that develops new kinds of smart robots. Her lab at the university focuses on basic science, and her companies take what’s learned in the lab and use it to develop solutions to real world problems. She’s won many awards for innovative research, including a MacArthur “genius” Award, a Frontiers of Science award, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, and a Stein Oppenheimer award. Her work on cracking the retina’s neural code (the code the retina uses to communicate with the brain) has been featured in a TED talk, a BBC documentary, a PBS documentary, the Discovery Channel, Scientific American, as well as several peer-reviewed publications.