Rate My Professor Laszlo Zaborszky

Laszlo Zaborszky is a Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience in the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-Newark. Born in Hungary, he received his M.D. from Semmelweis University and his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His distinguished career spans multiple prestigious institutions: he held faculty positions at Semmelweis University in Hungary, the University of Würzburg, and the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen, Germany, before serving as Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. In 1993, he joined Rutgers as one of the founding professors of the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, where he continues to lead groundbreaking research.

Zaborszky's research specializes in the basal forebrain cholinergic system, elucidating its functional organization, topographic projections to the cortex, and role in cognitive processes such as attention and memory. His work addresses degeneration of cholinergic neurons in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia, employing high-density electrophysiological recordings in transgenic rats, 3D mapping of human postmortem basal forebrain cells, and advanced neuroanatomical tracing methods to identify vulnerability factors and neural circuitry. He has authored over 125 peer-reviewed papers, including seminal publications like "Neurons in the basal forebrain project to the cortex in a complex topographic organization that reflects corticocortical connectivity patterns" (Cerebral Cortex, 2015, 337 citations), "Specific Basal Forebrain–Cortical Cholinergic Circuits Coordinate Cognitive Operations" (Journal of Neuroscience, 2018), and "Stereotaxic probabilistic maps of the magnocellular cell groups in human basal forebrain" (NeuroImage, 2008, 447 citations). Major books include his monograph Hypothalamic Connections (Springer, 1982), and co-edited volumes Neuroanatomical Tract-Tracing Methods 2 (Plenum, 1989) and Neuroanatomical Tract-Tracing 3: Molecules, Neurons, Systems (Springer, 2006). As founding Editor-in-Chief of Brain Structure and Function, former Managing Editor of Anatomy and Embryology (2004-2006), and board member of the Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy (1994-2000), he has profoundly shaped the field of neuroanatomy. Honors include election as a foreign member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Rutgers Brain Health Institute Senior Faculty “Super Star” Research Excellence Award (2024). He has served on the Newark Faculty Council and presented lectures on forebrain cholinergic system architecture and function.