Neuroscience faculty focus on many areas of research including: cellular and molecular neuroscience; developmental neuroscience; neural circuits, ensembles and connectomes; systems, cognitive and computational neuroscience; and neurobiology of disease. Many faculty have joint appointments in other departments. Specific research topics include the mechanisms of learning and memory, neurotransmitters and growth factors, the visual system, synaptic plasticity, circuits underlying behavior, neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, neural stem cells, vestibular system function, motor control, and neuronal death, survival and regeneration and pain. Faculty participate in the Neuroscience and Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology training programs.
Director
Richard L. Huganir, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Joint Appointment in Biological Chemistry
Joint Appointment in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Director, Department of Neuroscience
Co-Director, Brain Science Institute
Joint Appointment in Biological Chemistry
Joint Appointment in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Director, Department of Neuroscience
Co-Director, Brain Science Institute
Research Interests:
Glutamate receptors, Regulation of neurotransmitter receptors and brain function in health and disease
Jay M. Baraban, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Research Interests:
Neuronal plasticity
Amy J. Bastian, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Neurology
Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Professor of Neurology
Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Research Interests:
Childhood motor development, Damage to the central nervous system, Motor learning defects, Cerebellar motor disorders, Stroke
Dwight Edward Bergles, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Director, Multiphoton Imaging and Electrophysiology Core, The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience
Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Director, Multiphoton Imaging and Electrophysiology Core, The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Glial involvement in neuronal signaling, Glutamate transporters in neuronal signaling, Synaptic physiology
Seth Blackshaw, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Joint Appointment in Ophthalmology
Joint Appointment in Ophthalmology
Expertise, Disease and Conditions:
Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Neurogenetics, Obesity
Research Interests:
Regulation of hypothalamic cell fate specification and function, Functional analysis of candidate regulators of cell specification and survival in retina, High throughput screening, Molecular basis of neuronal and glial cell fate specification and survival
Solange P. Brown, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
ALS, Functional organization of local circuits of the neocortex
Charles Edward Connor, Ph.D. Jr.
Professor of Neuroscience
Director, Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute
Director, Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute
Research Interests:
Object synthesis in higher-level visual cortex
Angelika Doetzlhofer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Associate Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Associate Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Research Interests:
Hair cell regeneration, Hearing, Auditory development
Xinzhong Dong, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Dermatology
Professor of Neurosurgery
Professor of Dermatology
Professor of Neurosurgery
Research Interests:
Itch, Gentle touch, Hyperalgesia, Nerve injury, Neuropathic pain, MrgC agonism, Sensory circuits, Sensory neurons, Spinal ganglia, Sensory receptor cells, Neuronal imaging, Pain-sensing neurons, Genetic studies, Molecular studies, Somatosensation, Nociception, Pain, Heat
Stewart H.C. Hendry, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Functional organization of the primate visual system
James J. Knierim, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Neurophysiology of memory in the hippocampal formation
Alex Leo Kolodkin, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Joint Appointment in Molecular Biology and Genetics
Deputy Director, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
Joint Appointment in Molecular Biology and Genetics
Deputy Director, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
Research Interests:
Neuronal regeneration, Developmental biology, Cell biology, Neural development
Hey-Kyoung Lee, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Cellular/molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity underlying memory formation and cross-modal plasticity
David J. Linden, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Synaptic transmission and neuron/glia signaling, Cerebellar and hippocampal physiology, Roles of second messengers and calcium ions in determining neuronal excitability, Electrophysiology and biochemistry of neuronal plasticity and information storage
Ernst Niebur, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Neuronal function at the system level, Selective attention
Kristina Nielsen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Neural circuits underlying object recognition
Daniel H. O'Connor, M.A., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Neuropsychiatric illness, Neural circuits, Circuit dysfunction, Sensory perception
Christopher J. Potter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Neural circuits required for insect olfaction
Marshall G. Hussain Shuler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Neural mechanisms of reward-dependent learning
Solomon H. Snyder, D.Phil., D.Sc., M.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Research Interests:
Neurotransmitters, second messengers and drug action in the nervous system
Shanthini Sockanathan, D.Phil.
Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Mechanistic control of neuronal and glial differentiation and function
Paul F. Worley, M.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Neurology
Professor of Neurology
Research Interests:
Immediate early genes (IEGs), Addiction, Molecular basis of long-term learning and memory, Molecular mechanisms of neuronal plasticity
King-Wai Yau, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroscience
Professor of Ophthalmology
Professor of Ophthalmology
Research Interests:
Pupil constriction, Photoreceptors, Retinal ganglion cells, Light-signal transduction, Retinal rod and cone cells, Olfaction, Vision, Molecular neuroscience, Cellular neuroscience