Neuroscience Program Faculty and Their Research

Regular GSBS Faculty

Schahram Akbarian: 

Dopaminergic Signaling Induces Chromatin-Remodeling in Neurons. 

Mark Alkema: 

C. elegans behavorial genetics. 

Athena Andreadis: 

Regulation of transcription and RNA splicing in the central nervous system; relation between cytoskeletal elements and dementia.

Neil Aronin: 

Huntington’s disease.

Ingolf Bach: 

Neuronal Cell Fate Specification

Zheng-Zheng Bao: 

Molecular Mechanisms in Vertebrate Development

Vivian Budnik: 

Molecular Mechanisms of Synapse Assembly and Plasticity

James Crandall: 

Neuronal Migration in the Embryonic Cerebral Cortex

Roger Davis: 

Mechanisms by which growth factors regulate cellular proliferation.

Paul Dobner: 
Journal Club Director 

Regulation of neuroendocrine gene expression.

James G. Dobson, Jr.: 

Regulation of neurotransmitter signal transduction in the heart.

William Dube: 

Developmental disabilities:  Animal models and clinical studies.  

Patrick Emery: 

Circadian Rhythms and Photoreception in Drosophila.

Craig Ferris: 

Psychopharmacology and violence.

Michael Francis: 

Mechanisms of neuronal signaling in C. elegans 

Marc Freeman: 

Unwrapping glial biology in Drosophila. 

Paul Gardner: 

Molecular analyses of ion channel genes and signal transduction pathways during neuronal differentiation.  Developmental studies of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene expression. Ion channel gene expression in schizophreniza.

Edward Ginns: 

Translational studies of neuropsychiatric disorders. Gene mapping, pharmacogenetics and gene expression profiling.  Transgenic and knock-out animal models.  Enyzme replacement and gene transfer therapies. Basic and clinical studies of lysosomal storage disorders.

Peter Grigg: 

Stretch sensor neurons in skin.

Lawrence J. Hayward: 

Ion channelopathies, motor neuron disease, and Neuromuscular Channelopathies.

Daniel Kilpatrick: 

Transcriptional control of neurogenesis.

Jean King: 

Post-traumatic stress disorder.

William Kobertz: 

Structure, function and modulation of ion channels.

José Lemos: 

Stimulus-secretion coupling at nerve terminals.

Tzumin Lee: 

Seminar Director 

Neural Circuitry Formation and Plasticity in Drosophila Brain.

Hong-Sheng Li: 

Neuronal signal transduction and degeneration in the fly eye

William McIlvane: 

Interdisciplinary studies of developmental disabilities

Haley E. Melikian: 

Cocaine- and antidepressant-sensitive monoamine transporters. Emphasis on transporter trafficking, regulation, and transporter structure-function relationships.

Teresa Mitchell: 

Cross-Model Development and Plasticity.

Maria Morabito: 

Regulation of Excitatory Synapses in Development and Disease.

David Paydarfar: 

Basis of oscillatory nerve activity.

Steven M. Reppert: 

Molecular neuroethology.

Joel Richter: 

Translational control of synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory.

Ann Rittenhouse: 

Calcium channels and neuronal plasticity.

Evgeny Rogaev: 

Molecular genetic mechanisms of neuropsychiatric diseases and dementia.

Alonzo Ross: 

Phosphatidylinositol phosphatase, PTEN, CNS stem cells, and NGF signal transduction.

Charles Sagerström: 

Zebrafish developmental neurobiology

Gary Schwarting: 

Glycoproteins which regulate axon guidance and migration of neurons in the developing olfactory system.

William J. Schwartz: 

Mammalian circadian clock.

Joshua J. Singer: 

Ion channel behavior and cellular physiological and biochemical processes.

Ravindra Singh: 

Alternative splicing of the Survival of Motor Neuron (SMN) Genes.

Andrew Tapper: 

Neurobiology of Addiction.

Steven Treistman: 

Alcohol and Opiates Research; Neurobiology of Addiction.

David Ullman: 

Mechanisms of neurotoxicity and neuroprotection.

Scott Waddell: 

Drosophila Olfactory Memory

John Walsh: 

Modulation of ion channel activity.

David Weaver: 
Graduate Program Director 

Molecular physiology of circadian rhythms.

Motojiro Yoshihara: 

Synaptic physiology and activity-dependent plasticity

Zuoshang Xu: 

Neuronal cytoskeleton and motor neuron disease.

Jianhua Zhou: 

Molecular Pathogenesis of Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Ronghua ZhuGe: 

Intracellular localized Ca²⁺ signaling.

Adjunct and Special GSBS Faculty

James Evans: 

Spectrometric techniques and their application to neurological problems.

Susan Billings-Gagliardi: 

Developmental genetics, experimental study of myelin,cytological and ultrastructural methods.

Lawrence Lifshitz: 

Computer Vision and Image Processing

Robert O'Connell: 

Neuroscience of Olfaction.

Daniel A. Pollen: 

Pattern recognition in the visual cortices of the primate.

Thomas Schoenfeld: 

Olfactory neurobiology: spatial coding, persistent neurogenesis in adulthood.

Merrill K. Wolf: 

Development, genetics and experimental study of myelin: tissue culture and genetic methods.