Thematic Research Areas:
Brain and Behavior Research
Research in the area of brain and behavior strives to
understand the nervous system at the molecular, cellular,
systems, and whole animal levels. Faculty research employs
state-of-the-art technologies in molecular biology,
biochemistry, proteomics, electrophysiology, and microscopy as
well as experimental tissue culture, transgenic, behavioral, and
computational models to answer current questions in nervous
system development, function, and dysfunction.
Brain and behavior research topics include neural cell signal
transduction and gene expression, intracellular trafficking,
synaptic transmission and neuroplasticity, neuropeptide biology,
astrocyte and oligodendrocyte glial cell biology, human and
mouse stem cell biology, sensory perception for hearing and
taste, human psychoacoustics and genetics, drug abuse, epilepsy,
stroke, multiple sclerosis, and neurodegeneration and
neuroinflammation.
Rashmi Bansal,
Associate Professor of Neuroscience; Ph.D., Central Drug
Research Institute, 1976. The developmental, cellular and
molecular biology of oligodendrocytes (OLs).
Elisa
Barbarese, Professor of Neuroscience, Ph.D., McGill
University. Developmental neurobiology, myelination, and
multiple sclerosis.
John H. Carson,
Professor of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, B.A.,
Reed College, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. RNA
transport in cells of the nervous system.
Stormy J.
Chamberlain, Assistant Professor of Genetics and
Developmental Biology. Ph.D., University of Florida. Human
induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell models to study 15q11-q13
imprinting disorders.
Betty Eipper,
Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, B.S., M.S., Brown
University, Ph.D., Harvard University. Biosynthesis and
secretion of peptides by neurons and endocrine cells.
Paul Epstein,
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Cell Biology. Receptor signal
transduction, second messengers, and protein phosphorylation in
control of cell growth and regulation; purification and
regulation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases; role of
calmodulin in mediating Ca2+-dependent cell processes.
Marion E. Frank,
Professor of Oral Health and Diagnostic Sciences; Director,
Center for Neurosciences, Ph.D., Brown University. Gustatory
neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, behavior and disorders;
processing of chemosensory information by the nervous system;
clinical testing of oral chemosensory function in humans.
Brenton R.
Graveley, Professor of Genetics and Developmental
Biology. Ph.D., University of Vermont, 1996. Regulation of
alternative pre-mRNA splicing.
Duck O. Kim,
Professor of Neuroscience and Otolaryngology, D.Sc., Washington
University, St. Louis. Neurobiology and biophysics of the
auditory system; computational neuroscience of single neurons
and neural systems; experimental otolaryngology (otoacoustic
emissions); biomedical engineering.
Eric S. Levine,
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, B.S., Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Ph.D., Princeton University. Synaptic
physiology and plasticity, in particular the roles of nerve
growth factors and endogenous cannabinoids in the hippocampus
and cerebral cortex.
James Li,
Ph.D., Assistant Professor. Development of the central nervous
system (CNS), with an emphasis on the mammalian cerebellum.
Leslie M. Loew,
Professor of Cell Biology; Professor of Computer Science and
Engineering; Ph.D., Cornell, 1974. Morphological determinants of
cell physiology; image-based computational models of cellular
biology; spatial variations of cell membrane electrophysiology;
new optical methods for probing living cells.
Xin-Ming Ma,
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Ph.D. Beijing University
School of Medicine. Synaptogenesis and spine plasticity in
hippocampal neurons; estrogen hormones, cocaine, stress and
synaptic plasticity.
Richard Mains,
Professor of Neuroscience, B.S., M.S. Brown University, Ph.D.,
Harvard University. Pituitary; sympathetic neurons; peptides;
vesicles; enzymes; tissue culture; development.
Louise
McCullough, Assistant Professor of Neurology and
Neuroscience, M.D., Ph.D., University of Connecticut. Basic
mechanisms involved in cerebral ischemia.
D. Kent Morest,
M.D., Professor of Neuroscience. Role of cell and tissue
interactions in the migration and differentiation of neurons;
structure and function of neurons during development and synapse
formation.
Douglas L.
Oliver, Professor of Neuroscience, Ph.D., Duke University.
Synaptic organization; parallel information processing in the
central nervous system; Ionic currents and channel expression
and their role in information processing; neurocytology,
morphology, and cellular physiology of CNS sensory systems;
biology of hearing and deafness.
Joel S.
Pachter, Professor of Cell Biology; Ph.D., NYU, 1983. Use of
laser capture microdissection for gene profiling of the
neurovascular unit in health and disease.
Pramod K.
Srivastava, Professor of Medicine, Ph.D., Center for
Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India. Heat shock
proteins as peptide chaperones, roles in antigen presentation
and applications in immunotherapy of cancer, infectious diseases
and autoimmune disorders.
Zhao-Wen Wang,
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Ph.D., Michigan State
University. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of
neurotransmitter release; potassium and calcium channel
function; synaptic localization of potassium channels.
|
|
