Helen Bateup

Research Bio

Helen Bateup is a neuroscientist whose research probes how intracellular signaling and synaptic plasticity shape neural circuit development and behavior. She has a particular interest in syndromic neurodevelopmental disorders, which are associated with epilepsy, intellectual disability, and autism spectrum disorder. To elucidate disease mechanisms for these disorders, her lab uses genetic mouse and human cellular models in combination with a variety of techniques that address molecular, electrophysiological, and behavioral alterations. Bateup's discoveries are providing a mechanistic understanding of how disease-associated mutations affect the biology and physiology of neurons and glia, and how altered neuronal activity impacts circuit function and behavior. In addition, her work is defining the early developmental alterations that contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders using human brain organoid models.

Bateup is an Associate Professor in UC Berkeley’s Departments of Neuroscience and Molecular & Cell Biology and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. Her publications appear in Nature Medicine, Neuron, Nature Communications, and eLife. She has received the Alfred P. Sloan Research fellowship in Neuroscience, a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, and the Rose Hills Innovator Award. She has also been awarded Investigatorships from the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and Weill Neurohub. At UC Berkeley, Bateup teaches neurodevelopment and the neurobiology of disease and mentors trainees in cellular and molecular neuroscience.

Research Expertise and Interest

molecular and cellular neuroscience, neurodevelopmental disorders, autism, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease

In the News

Food Insecurity Has Lasting Impacts on the Brains and Behavior of Mice

While food insecurity is a problem for a growing segment of the U.S. population — made even worse by the coronavirus pandemic — few studies have looked at the effect that feast or famine has on the developing brain in isolation from other factors that contribute to adversity. A new study by neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, simulated the effects of food insecurity in juvenile mice and found lasting changes later in life.

Neuroscientists roll out first comprehensive atlas of brain cells

When you clicked to read this story, a band of cells across the top of your brain sent signals down your spine and out to your hand to tell the muscles in your index finger to press down with just the right amount of pressure to activate your mouse or track pad. A slew of new studies now shows that the area of the brain responsible for initiating this action — the primary motor cortex, which controls movement — has as many as 116 different types of cells that work together to make this happen.

$14 million boost for Parkinson’s disease research

Two new grants totaling nearly $14 million over three years will jump-start research at UC Berkeley into the molecular and genetic causes of Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that afflicts more than 1 million Americans, yet whose cause remains a mystery.

Teaching

Courses taught during the three most recent terms
2026 Spring

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [MCELLBI 199]  

  • Research Review in Neurobiology: Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Plasticity  [MCELLBI 269C]  

  • Research  [MCELLBI 292]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [MCELLBI 99]  

  • Honors Research  [MCELLBI H196A]  

  • Honors Research  [MCELLBI H196B]  

  • Senior Research Thesis  [NEU 191]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [NEU 199]  

  • Neuroscience Graduate Research  [NEU 292]  

  • Neuroscience Research Review  [NEU 295]  

  • Survey of Neuroscience Research  [NEU 77]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [NEU 99]  

  • Honors Research Thesis  [NEU H196A]  

  • Honors Research Thesis  [NEU H196B]  

2025 Fall

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [MCELLBI 199]  

  • Research Review in Neurobiology: Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Plasticity  [MCELLBI 269C]  

  • Research  [MCELLBI 292]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [MCELLBI 99]  

  • Honors Research  [MCELLBI H196A]  

  • Honors Research  [MCELLBI H196B]  

  • Neurodevelopment  [NEU 164]  

  • Senior Research Thesis  [NEU 191]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [NEU 199]  

  • Neuroscience Graduate Research  [NEU 292]  

  • Neuroscience Research Review  [NEU 295]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [NEU 99]  

  • Honors Research Thesis  [NEU H196A]  

  • Honors Research Thesis  [NEU H196B]  

2025 Summer

  • Supervised Internship  [MCELLBI 197]  

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [MCELLBI 199]  

2025 Spring

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [MCELLBI 199]  

  • Research Review in Neurobiology: Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Plasticity  [MCELLBI 269C]  

  • Research  [MCELLBI 292]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [MCELLBI 99]  

  • Honors Research  [MCELLBI H196A]  

  • Honors Research  [MCELLBI H196B]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [NEU 199]  

  • Neuroscience Graduate Research  [NEU 292]  

  • Neuroscience Research Review  [NEU 295]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [NEU 99]  

  • Honors Research Thesis  [NEU H196A]  

  • Honors Research Thesis  [NEU H196B]