{{short description|American neuroscientist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Vanessa Ruta | image = Ness3.jpg | image_size = | caption = Ruta in 2015 | birth_place = Chiapas, Mexico | citizenship = United States | ethnicity = | fields = Neuroscience | workplaces = Rockefeller University | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Hunter College * Rockefeller University * Columbia University}} | doctoral_advisor = Roderick MacKinnon | academic_advisors = Richard Axel, Robert Barlow Jr. | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{Plainlist| * Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award (2005) * National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award (2013) * MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2019) * }} | religion = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | footnotes = | spouse = Rickie Mohan | website = {{URL|https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/989-vanessa-ruta/}} }}
'''Vanessa Julia Ruta''' is an American neuroscientist known for her work on the structure and function of chemosensory circuits underlying innate and learned behaviors in the fly ''Drosophila melanogaster.'' She is the Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Professor<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vanessa Ruta |url=https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/989-vanessa-ruta/ |access-date=2025-11-17 |website=Our Scientists |language=en}}</ref> and Head of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Behavior at The Rockefeller University<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rockefeller.edu/research/faculty/labheads/VanessaRuta/#content|title=The Rockefeller University » Scientists & Research|website=Rockefeller.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-03-09}}</ref> and, as of 2021, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hhmi.org/news/hhmi-invests-300-million-33-new-investigators |access-date=28 September 2021|title=HHMI Invests $300 Million in 33 New Investigators }}</ref>
Ruta is a 2019 MacArthur Fellow. She was one of the six fellows from New York City.<ref name=Newsday2019-09-25/>
==Education and scientific career== Ruta graduated summa cum laude from Hunter College in Chemistry in 2000. She went on to perform doctoral research in the laboratory of Rod Mackinnon, earning her Ph.D. in Biology from The Rockefeller University in 2005. In Mackinnon's lab, she played a critical role in solving the structure of the voltage-dependent potassium ion channel. During her graduate work, she investigated the structural biology and function of potassium channels. These deeply conserved proteins conduct ions across biological membranes and are targets of toxin including those produced by the tarantula. Vanessa worked out the mechanism by which spider toxins bind the voltage sensor domain of potassium channels. As a postdoctoral fellow with Richard Axel at Columbia University, Ruta switched fields to the analysis of how the brain encodes both innate and learned stimuli and discovered a sexually dimorphic circuit that drives male fly responses to a pheromone,<ref name=pmid18305480>{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/nature06808 |pmid=18305480 |title=The Drosophila pheromone cVA activates a sexually dimorphic neural circuit |journal=Nature |volume=452 |issue=7186 |pages=473–7 |year=2008 |last1=Datta |first1=Sandeep Robert |last2=Vasconcelos |first2=Maria Luisa |last3=Ruta |first3=Vanessa |last4=Luo |first4=Sean |last5=Wong |first5=Allan |last6=Demir |first6=Ebru |last7=Flores |first7=Jorge |last8=Balonze |first8=Karen |last9=Dickson |first9=Barry J |last10=Axel |first10=Richard |bibcode=2008Natur.452..473D |s2cid=4421654 }}</ref> and traced the activity of the circuit from the periphery to the motor output.<ref name=pmid21124455>{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/nature09554 |pmid=21124455 |title=A dimorphic pheromone circuit in Drosophila from sensory input to descending output |journal=Nature |volume=468 |issue=7324 |pages=686–90 |year=2010 |last1=Ruta |first1=Vanessa |last2=Datta |first2=Sandeep Robert |last3=Vasconcelos |first3=Maria Luisa |last4=Freeland |first4=Jessica |last5=Looger |first5=Loren L |last6=Axel |first6=Richard |bibcode=2010Natur.468..686R |s2cid=4412743 }}</ref> She joined the faculty at The Rockefeller University in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://newswire.rockefeller.edu/2011/06/29/rockefeller-alum-vanessa-ruta-named-to-university%e2%80%99s-faculty/|title=Rockefeller alum Vanessa Ruta named to university's faculty |website=Newswire.rockefeller.edu|access-date=2017-03-10}}</ref>
==Career== In work that bridged her postdoc and the establishment of her own independent group her at Rockefeller University, Ruta demonstrated that the mushroom body encodes information using a rewriteable random access memory architecture.<ref name=pmid23615618>{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/nature12063 |pmid=23615618 |pmc=4148081 |title=Random convergence of olfactory inputs in the Drosophila mushroom body |journal=Nature |volume=497 |issue=7447 |pages=113–7 |year=2013 |last1=Caron |first1=Sophie J. C |last2=Ruta |first2=Vanessa |last3=Abbott |first3=L. F |last4=Axel |first4=Richard |bibcode=2013Natur.497..113C }}</ref> Her lab has elucidated brain circuits that control male fly responses to female pheromones,<ref name=pmid26279475>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2015.07.025 |pmid=26279475 |pmc=4560615 |title=Multimodal Chemosensory Circuits Controlling Male Courtship in Drosophila |journal=Neuron |volume=87 |issue=5 |pages=1036–49 |year=2015 |last1=Clowney |first1=E. Josephine |last2=Iguchi |first2=Shinya |last3=Bussell |first3=Jennifer J |last4=Scheer |first4=Elias |last5=Ruta |first5=Vanessa }}</ref> demonstrated that the memory center of the fly brain uses compartmentalized dopamine modulation to encode behaviors,<ref name=pmid26687359>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2015.11.019 |pmid=26687359 |pmc=4732734 |title=Coordinated and Compartmentalized Neuromodulation Shapes Sensory Processing in Drosophila |journal=Cell |volume=163 |issue=7 |pages=1742–55 |year=2015 |last1=Cohn |first1=Raphael |last2=Morantte |first2=Ianessa |last3=Ruta |first3=Vanessa }}</ref> described the evolution of central neural circuits underlying courtship decisions in ''Drosophila'' <ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Seeholzer|first1=Laura F.|last2=Seppo|first2=Max|last3=Stern|first3=David L.|last4=Ruta|first4=Vanessa|date=July 2018|title=Evolution of a central neural circuit underlies Drosophila mate preferences|journal=Nature|volume=559|issue=7715|pages=564–569|doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0322-9|issn=1476-4687|pmid=29995860|pmc=6276375|bibcode=2018Natur.559..564S}}</ref> and solved the structure of the invertebrate olfactory receptor co-receptor (Orco).<ref>{{Cite journal |pmid = 30111839|pmc = 6129982|year = 2018|last1 = Butterwick|first1 = J. A.|title = Cryo-EM structure of the insect olfactory receptor Orco|journal = Nature|volume = 560|issue = 7719|pages = 447–452|last2 = Del Mármol|first2 = J.|last3 = Kim|first3 = K. H.|last4 = Kahlson|first4 = M. A.|last5 = Rogow|first5 = J. A.|last6 = Walz|first6 = T.|last7 = Ruta|first7 = V.|doi = 10.1038/s41586-018-0420-8|bibcode = 2018Natur.560..447B}}</ref>
Her work on the structure of insect odorant receptors—a potential target for new insect repellents—has been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/features/new-gates-grant-supports-cumc-malaria-research|title=New Gates Grant Supports CUMC Malaria Research - Columbia University Medical Center|date=27 August 2010|website=Cumc.columbia.edu|access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref>
Ruta is a member of the selection committee of the Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-01/uonc-crd012517.php|title=Caltech researcher David Anderson wins Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize|website=EurekAlert.org|access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref>
==Awards and honors== For her PhD work, Ruta received the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award in 2005. She has received a number of junior faculty awards, including the New York Stem Cell Foundation–Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Award (2012), the McKnight Neuroscience Scholar Award (2012), the Pew Biomedical Scholar Award (2012), the Sinsheimer Fund Scholar Award (2012), the Irma T. Hirschl/Monique Weill-Caulier Trust Research Award (2013), and the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Neuroscience (2013). In 2013, Ruta received the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, for a project that aims to connect neural plasticity to learning and memory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://commonfund.nih.gov/newinnovator/recipients13 |title=New Innovator Award 2013 Recipients |access-date=2017-09-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917124133/https://commonfund.nih.gov/newinnovator/recipients13 |archive-date=2017-09-17 }}</ref> She was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hunter.cuny.edu/news/hunter-alumna-vanessa-ruta-00-takes-home-macarthur-grant/|title=Hunter Alumna Vanessa Ruta '00 Takes Home MacArthur Grant | Hunter College|date=27 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/26578-vanessa-ruta-named-a-2019-macarthur-fellow/|title=Vanessa Ruta named a 2019 MacArthur Fellow}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/1049/|title=Vanessa Ruta}}</ref> Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |last=-- not stated --> |date=28 April 2026 |title=National Academy of Sciences Election |url=https://www.nasonline.org/news/2026-nas-election/ |access-date=6 May 2026}}</ref>
==Personal life== Ruta is the daughter of landscape painter Peter Ruta.<ref name="tabletmag.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/196725/oldest-living-painter-westbeth|title=Peter Ruta: The Oldest Living Painter in Westbeth|website=Tabletmag.com|access-date=18 October 2017|date=February 2016}}</ref> She spent her early childhood in New York City and Santa Fe, New Mexico.<ref name="tabletmag.com"/> Ruta returned to New York City to live in the Westbeth Artists Community in Greenwich Village, and she attended Stuyvesant High School.<ref name="rockefeller.edu">{{cite web|url=https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/18121-alumna-vanessa-ruta-named-to-universitys-faculty/|title=Alumna Vanessa Ruta named to university's faculty - News|website=Reckefeller.edu|access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref> Between high school and college, Ruta was a professional ballet dancer.<ref name="rockefeller.edu"/> She is the sister of journalist Garance Franke-Ruta. Ruta married graphic designer Rickie Mohan in 2001.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/16/style/weddings-vanessa-ruta-rickie-mohan.html|title=Vanessa Ruta, Rickie Mohan|date=16 September 2001|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=Newsday2019-09-25> {{cite news | url = https://www.newsday.com/long-island/zachary-lippman-macarthur-genius-i32206 | title = LIer a 2019 MacArthur 'genius' grant recipient | work = Newsday | author = Joan Gralla | date = 2019-09-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190926233737/https://www.newsday.com/long-island/zachary-lippman-macarthur-genius-1.36816141 | url-status = live | archive-date = September 26, 2019 | access-date = 2019-09-29 | quote = Six geniuses live in New York City: theater artist Annie Dorsen, 45; Mary Halvorson, 38, a jazz and rock guitarist and composer; Saidiya Hartman, 58, a Columbia University professor who traced "the aftermath of slavery in modern American life"; contemporary dance choreographer Sarah Michelson, 55; artist Cameron Rowland, 30, for portraying systemic racism; and neuroscientist Vanessa Ruta, 45, who explores stimuli that affect neural circuits and behaviors, the foundation said. }} </ref> }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruta, Vanessa}} Category:Living people Category:Rockefeller University faculty Category:American neuroscientists Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:American medical researchers Category:American women neuroscientists Category:Rockefeller University alumni Category:Hunter College alumni Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni Category:Scientists from New York (state) Category:Year of birth missing (living people)