The best scientists are often those that don’t limit their interests to a very narrow field of research but those that seek out multiple areas and approaches to inform their own scientific inquiry. The Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP) is designed to offer a uniquely interdisciplinary and collaborative graduate school experience, training tomorrow’s neuroscientists in well-funded individual research laboratories supported by numerous institutional state-of-the-art core research facilities. Our PhD trainees carry out cutting-edge, original research and graduate to be leaders in academia, government, industry, and science education.
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Program Faculty
- Huiwang Ai
Spatiotemporal Regulation of Biological Signaling; Protein Engineering for Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics - Jayakrishna Ambati
Understanding the Molecular Basis of Macular Degeneration in Order to Hasten the Eradication of Blindness - Douglas A. Bayliss
Mechanisms of neuromodulation in central neurons - Mark P. Beenhakker
Circuit mechanisms of sleep and epilepsy - Edward H. Bertram
Studies of various aspects of epilepsy using anatomy and in vivo and in vitro physiology. - George S. Bloom
Pathogenic mechanisms in Alzheimer’s Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders - Peter C. Brunjes
Use the olfactory system to examine general problems in the brain maturation, including the role of afferent activity on tissue development and the interplay between evolution and development. - John Campbell
The Neurobiology of Energy Balance - Jianhua Cang
Mouse Visual System, physiology, functional imaging, genetics, molecular, behavioral, and computational methods - Anna Cliffe
Herpes Simplex Virus Infection of Neurons - James A. Coan
Neuroscience of Emotional Expression and Individual Emotion-Regulation Capabilities - Barry G. Condron
Regulation and Function Serotonergic Neurons During Development - Jessica J. Connelly
Epigenetic mechanisms involved in complex human disease - Jeffrey T. Corwin
Regeneration and Developmental Biology of the Hearing and Balance Organs in the Vertebrate Ear. - Christopher Deppmann
Elucidating and Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying Nervous System Development - Thomas Jason Druzgal
Multi-modal brain MRI to study different aspects of neurodegenerative diseases. Effects of mild traumatic brain injury on student athletes. Parkinson’s Disease and essential tremor. - Noelle Dwyer
Neural Development; Cell Division in Neural Stem Cells; Axon Outgrowth and Guidance - Alev Erisir
Developmental Plasticity and Neuropathology of Synaptic Circuitries. - Sarah E Ewald
Innate immunity, chronic disease, host-parasite interactions - Ukpong Bassey Eyo
Neuroscience - Heather Ferris
The Role of Diabetes in Cognitive Decline - Felicia Gaskin
Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune disease, cytoskeletal proteins, microtubule assembly - Alban Gaultier
Exploring new therapeutics avenues to cure Multiple Sclerosis. - Howard P. Goodkin
Status epilepticus - Robert M. Grainger
Molecular embryology–gene regulation in cells committed to specific developmental lineages - Patrick A. Grant
Transcription; Chromatin Modifications, Neurodegenerative Disease, Cancer - Tobias Grossmann
Brain processes that underpin social interaction and cognition during infancy - Ali D. Guler
Behavior and epigenetics; Building and wiring the brain; Neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders; Biological timing: circadian rhythms. - Patrice G. Guyenet
Neural control of blood pressure and respiration - John T. Hackett
Synaptic Transmission - Adrian J. Halme
Regeneration and Systemic Responses to Tissue Damage - Tajie H. Harris
Immune response to infectious disease in the CNS - David Hill
Development and plasticity of sensory systems - Jay Hirsh
Molecular genetics; development and function of neurotransmitter-synthesizing neurons in Drosophila - Song Hu
Photoacoustic imaging, light microscopy, neuroscience, microvascular biology - Yashar Kalani
Stem cell biology, regenerative medicine, stroke, Wnt signaling, neurogenesis, vasculogenesis, angiogenesis - Jaideep Kapur
Pathophysiology of Status Epilepticus; Plasticity of GABAergic Synaptic Transmission - Masashi Kawasaki
Neuroethology of electric fish - Raymond E. Keller
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis - Jonathan Kipnis
Neuroimmunology and glia biology in cognition, neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration - Alex Kuan
Neuroscience - Sarah C Kucenas
The role of glia in the development, maintenance and regeneration of the nervous system - Kyle Lampe
Neural tissue engineering, biomaterials, drug delivery, redox regulation of stem cell fate, engineering cell-interactive microenvironments - Kevin S. Lee
Neuronal Vulnerability: A Study of Cellular Mechanism - Wynn Legon
Non-invasive neuromodulation - Xiaorong Liu
Developing novel neuroprotection strategies to preserve vision in glaucoma - Xiaowei Lu
Developmental regulation of planar cell polarity in the mammalian nervous system - John R. Lukens
Neuroinflammatory disease - Kevin R. Lynch
Chemical biology of sphingosine 1-phosphate - Wendy J. Lynch
Behavioral Pharmacology, Sex Differences, Animal Models of Addiction - Mani S. Mahadevan
Molecular Mechanisms of Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy - James W. Mandell
Identification of Novel Biomarkers for Inflammatory Myopathies - Carol A. Manning
Dementia neurodegenerative disease & cognition - Michael J McConnell
The Cause and Consequence of Somatic Mosaicism in Neurons - C. Daniel Meliza
Neural Mechanisms of Pattern Learning and Recognition in the Auditory System - Deforest Mellon
Sensory System Organization and Development - James P. Morris
Social perception and cognition; Social Neuroscience; Human Neuroscience - David Parichy
Long-distance communication by specialized cellular projections, intersections of hormonal controls with local mechanisms of differentiation and morphogenesis, establishment and recruitment of post-embryonic stem cells during development and regeneration, - Manoj Patel
Modulation of sodium channel gating by beta subunits and novel sodium channel blockers; Synaptic transmission in dorsal horn neurons - Edward Perez-Reyes
Exploring epilepsy circuits then preventing seizures using AAV-based gene therapies. - K. Kevin Pfister
Regulation of Cytoplasmic Dynein for Membrane Bounded Organelle Trafficking in Axons - Richard J. Price
Image Guided Drug and Gene Delivery for Neurodegeneration and Cancer; Focused Ultrasound and Immunotherapy; Arteriogenesis and Angiogenesis - Dennis R. Proffitt
Human Perception & Cognition - Javier Provencio
Innate Inflammatory Pathways Associated with Acute Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage - Ignacio Provencio
The Role of Melanopsin Retinal Ganglion Cells in the Photic Regulation of Mammalian Circadian Rhythms - Benjamin W. Purow
Novel therapeutic approaches to brain cancers and to other neurologic diseases - Kodi S. Ravichandran
Apoptotic cell clearance mechanisms in health and disease - Michael M. Scott
Investigation of the neuronal circuits and epigenetic modifications involved in the control of food and drug reward - Jung-Bum Shin
Auditory Neurobiology - Sarah Siegrist
Regulation of neural stem cell proliferation by extracellular factors, local and systemic. Intrinsic signaling programs regulating neural stem cell fate decisions: death versus survival. Functional and molecular similarities between Drosophila and mammal - Nina J. Solenski
Mechanisms of cerebral ischemia - James Radford Stone
Traumatic Brain Injury - Christine I. Thisse
Molecular Mechanisms of Early Vertebrate Development and Morphogenesis. Application to Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine - Petr Tvrdik
Neurological Surgery - B. Jill Venton
Analytical Neurochemistry; Dopamine and Serotonin Neurotransmission in Drosophila; Mechanisms of rapid adenosine signaling in rodents - Cedric L. Williams
Studies of various aspects of learning, memory, olfactory discrimination and explosive detection. We develop computer driven learning programs that produce optimal olfactory discrimination and detection learning in rodents. - Bettina Winckler
Endosomal function and dysfunction in neurons - Paul A. Yates
Development and regulation of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and blood vessels as they relate to retinal diseases. - Scott O. Zeitlin
Mechanisms of Huntington’s Disease Pathogenesis - J. Julius Zhu
Neural Circuits in Healthy and Diseased Brains - Hui Zong
Mouse models of brain cancers - Eli Zunder
Stem Cell Behavior - Zhiyi Zuo
Neuroscience and Anesthetic Neuroprotection