Laboratory Research
The Department of Neurosciences spans a broad range of research interests; grouped into three major categories:

I. Several investigators are interested in the earliest periods of neurogenesis and lineage commitment, and are examining stem and progenitor cells in developing and mature brain:

Qiang Lu, Ph.D. – Neural Progenitor/Stem Cells in Brain Development
Dr. Lu’s research is concerned with intercellular signaling by ephrins and Eph receptors and their regulation of neuronal birth and migration during early development of the cerebral cortex.

Yanhong Shi, Ph.D. – Nuclear Receptors in Neural Stem Cells and Adult Neurogenesis
Dr. Shi is studying the nuclear receptors that control generation and differentiation of neural lineage stem cells in the adult nervous system.

Michael E. Barish, Ph.D. – Neurobiology of Development
Dr. Barish is investigating early electrical activity in the developing hippocampus and cortex and its relationship to neural birth, migration and maturation.

Chauncey W. Bowers, Ph.D. – Cellular Physiology
Dr. Bowers is using computational tools to examine links between divergent DNA sequence patters and control of gene silencing in neurons and other cells.

Tiziano Barberi, Ph.D. – Stem Cells and Development
Dr. Barberi is looking at human embryonic stem cells to understand mechanisms leading to differentiation of particular classes of neurons and muscle cells.

II. Several faculty have research foci in neural specification, processes that impart individuality to developing neurons, and in the functioning of mature neurons.

Linda E. Iverson, Ph.D. – Molecular Neurogenetics
Dr. Iverson studies alternate splicing of mRNA and its relationship to tissue-specific expression of potassium channels and other proteins.

Paul M. Salvaterra, Ph.D. – Molecular Neurobiology
Dr. Salvaterra’s research is focused on the regulation of transmitter phenotype, how gene expression is coordinated to allow synthesis and release of individual neurotransmitters.

Toshifumi Tomoda, M.D., Ph.D.  – Axonal Trafficking / Neurodegeneration
Dr. Tomoda is interested in membrane transport and cycling, and its role in axon and dendrite growth, differentiation of synapses, and stress-induced autophagy.

Kazuo Ikeda, Ph.D. – Neurophysiology
Dr. Ikeda studies the mechanisms of synaptic transmission and plasticity, focusing on endocytosis of synaptic vesicle membrane from presynaptic terminals and processes of recovery from vesicle depletion as a consequence of activity.

Steven D. Flanagan, Ph.D. – Genetic Neurochemistry
Dr. Flanagan is using microarray analyses of gene expression in cells from identified human populations to study differences that may contribute to schizophrenia.

III. Several faculty members also have projects that relate their fundamental research interests to mechanisms underlying diseases of the human nervous system.

• Dr. Iverson is looking at how differences in alternative mRNA splicing during neural differentiation may contribute to subsequent development of glioma or other brain cancers. 
• Dr. Paul Salvaterra is developing Drosophila models for Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases. 
• Dr. Lu is examining how alteration in the neural stem cell decision to proliferate or differentiate controlled by ephrin/Eph receptor signaling may be involved in the earliest stages of tumorigenesis. 
• Dr. Tomoda is investigating possible connections between genes involved in membrane cycling and autophagy, and several diseases including Huntington’s and schizophrenia. 
• Dr. Barish, in collaboration with Dr. Aboody (Hematology/HCT) and Dr. Glackin (Molecular Medicine), is examining the reactions of neural progenitor cells in mature brain to glioma and other brain tumors, and targeting of these tumors by genetically-modified and immortalized neural progenitor cells.