Cornelia Isabella Bargmann studied the relationship between genes, neural circuits, and behavior in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in the US. Bargmann’s research focused on how the sense of smell (olfaction) in the nematode word Caenorhabditis elegans. She provided a model to study how neural circuits develop and function in the human brain, as the genetic regulatory pathways are similar. She also studied how neurons develop and form connections to influence sensory abilities, and how chemicals called neuropeptides influence reproductive behavior in C. elegans. Such studies enabled researchers to make inferences about similar processes in other organisms, such as humans.

Ben Barres researched neurobiology during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California. His primary research focus was glial cells, which are the most abundant cells of the nervous system that support and protect neurons. There are many kinds of glial cells, and Barres examined their roles in the nervous system as well as in development and disease. Prior to Barres’s work, researchers believed that neurons were the primary players in brain function and that glial cells played a passive role. Barres discovered that glial cells play a key role in creating and eliminating synapses, which are the connections between nerve cells. Barres was transgender and after transitioning at age forty-three spoke frequently about sexism in science. Through his scientific research, Barres brought attention to the function of glial cells in development and disease, and through his activism he became a role model for LGBTQIA+ people in science.