Neurobiology | Research Interests

Name	Email	PhD Program
Lanfersieck, Julia EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Cell Biology, Neurobiology, Pharmacology	“I am most interested in investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms related to neurodegenerative diseases and aging, specifically in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. I hope to broadly contribute to the questions of how AD develops and how we can treat/prevent its onset.”
Lorenz, Eva EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Behavior, Neurobiology, Pharmacology	“I hope to elucidate specific neural pathways underlying drug dependence and developing potential pharmacological targets for alleviating dependence, withdrawal, relapse from drugs.”
Tart, Seth EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Cell Biology, Cell Signaling, Neurobiology	“I am interested in exploring the role of glial cells in neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, I am interested in how glial cells influence neural circuit formation and synaptic plasticity. Finally, I aim to undercover novel cellular and molecular targets that can be utilized to treat or prevent various CNS diseases.”
Hwang, Janice EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Cell Biology & Physiology RESEARCH INTEREST Aging/Alzheimer's, Diabetes, Human Subjects Research, Medical Imaging, Metabolism, Neurobiology, Physiology, Translational Medicine	My group is interested in understanding the effects of obesity and diabetes on the brain, particularly related to cerebral function and energetics. We conduct physiology based, mechanistic human and rodent studies to investigate fundamental questions such as how does the brain sense various nutrients (sugar, fat, etc), how does metabolic disease, sleep, aging impact brain function and metabolism? Using classic human metabolic techniques including hyperinsulinemic and hyper/hypoglycemic clamps coupled with advanced neuroimaging modalities including 1H and 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy, functional MRI, and PET-CT imaging, my group has shown that glucose transport capacity into the human brain can be modified by factors such as obesity and insulin resistance as well as hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia and glycemic variability. We also have interests in using novel human imaging modalities to understand how obesity and diabetes impact neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration.
Williams, Morika WEBSITE EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Neuroscience, Pathobiology & Translational Science RESEARCH INTEREST Behavior, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Translational Medicine	Early life and adult pain can have drastic effects on neurodevelopment and overall quality of life. In the Williams’ Pain, Aging, and Interdisciplinary Neurobehavioral (P.A.I.N.) Lab, our research focuses on behavioral neuroscience and the mechanisms of neurobiology and neurophysiology of pain processing, with a special emphasis on the neonatal. The ultimate research goal is to better understand, recognize, and alleviate pain in the newborn to improve the quality of life in adulthood by uncovering new assessment tools and interventional strategies. Our research interests include the mechanisms of neurobiology and neurophysiology of pain processing, neonatal pain, chronic pain, neurobehavior, osteoarthritis, translational medicine, anesthesia/analgesics, and evoked and non-evoked pain assessment tools. The P.A.I.N. Lab has both pre-clinical and clinical studies to help close the gap in translation.
Hantman, Adam EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Cell Biology & Physiology, Neuroscience RESEARCH INTEREST Behavior, Neurobiology, Physiology	The Hantman Lab is interested in how functions emerge from network activity in the nervous system. Particularly, we study how the nervous system generates patterns of activity that control our bodies in the world. Our approach combines genetics, anatomy, physiology, perturbations, and a dynamical systems approach.
Christoffel, Dan WEBSITE EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Neuroscience RESEARCH INTEREST Behavior, Neurobiology, Physiology, Translational Medicine	Dr. Christoffel aims to understand how chronic exposure to particular stimuli (i.e. stress, food, drugs) alters the functioning of specific neural circuits and investigates the mechanisms that regulate these experience-dependent changes. Current studies focus on 1) how experience-dependent plasticity in the nucleus accumbens regulates reward processing, with a focus on the consumption of palatable foods and stress modulation of food intake, and 2) examine the regulatory role of neuromodulators in hedonic feeding. The ultimate goal of the Christoffel Lab’s research is to understand how adaptive changes in brain function occur and how this can lead to the development of psychiatric disorders. We employ cutting-edge technologies to understand the complex interactions of multiple neural systems that allow us to adapt to our environment and regulate motivated behavior.
Baldwin, Katie WEBSITE EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Cell Biology & Physiology, Neuroscience RESEARCH INTEREST Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Molecular Biology, Neurobiology	Building a functioning brain requires an elaborate network of interactions between neurons and glia. We use mouse genetics, primary cell culture, quantitative proteomics, molecular biology, and super resolution microscopy to study glial cells during brain development. We are particularly interested in how astrocytes acquire their complex morphology and communicate with neighboring astrocytes, neurons, and oligodendrocytes. Furthermore, we are investigating how glial dysfunction drives the pathogenesis of brain disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and leukodystrophy.
Walsh, Jessica WEBSITE EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Neuroscience, Pharmacology RESEARCH INTEREST Behavior, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Translational Medicine	Social behavior is composed of a variety of distinct forms of interactions and is fundamental to survival. Several neural circuits must act in concert to allow for such complex behavior to occur and perturbations, either genetic and/or environmental, underlie many psychiatric and neurodevelopment disorders. The Walsh lab focuses on gaining an improved understanding of the biological basis of behavior using a multi-level approach to elucidate the molecular and circuit mechanisms underlying motivated social behavior. The goal of our research is to uncover how neural systems govern social interactions and what alterations occur in disease states to inform the development of novel therapeutics or treatment strategies. One of the major focuses of the Walsh lab is on understanding how genetic mutations, as well as experience, lead to circuit adaptations that govern impaired behavior seen in mouse models of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Our systems level analysis includes: 1) modeling these disorders with well described genetic markers, 2) defining causal relationships between activity within discrete anatomical structures in the brain that are critical to the physiology of the symptom under investigation (e.g. sociability), 3) performing deep characterization of the physiological profiles of these circuits and using that information to target specific receptors or molecules that may not have been considered for the treatment of specific ASD symptoms.
Pegard, Nicolas WEBSITE EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Applied Physical Sciences, Neuroscience RESEARCH INTEREST Behavior, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Neurobiology	Our lab develops computer-driven optical instrumentation for applications in biology and neurosciences, beyond traditional imaging systems. Our research is interdisciplinary and welcomes backgrounds in optical engineering, computer sciences, biology or neurosciences. Our primary goal is to develop optical brain-machine interfaces and other technologies that use advanced light sources and detectors to probe and manipulate cellular functions deep into tissue at depths where traditional microscopy tools can no longer retrieve images.

Research Interest: Neurobiology