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Neuroscience

Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program

About

Research in Neuroscience

Research in Neuroscience at UVA explores basic questions about the workings of the brain, the neural bases for mental disorders, neurodegeneration, and other common brain dysfunction.Sensory systems, behavior, neurodegeneration and memory loss, addiction and motor systems are just a few examples of areas within neuroscience that are current topics of study in our program.  It is an exciting time to be a neuroscientist.  New advanced techniques allow for macro (fMRI, Optigenetics) and micro (capillary electrophoresis, electrophysiology) analysis of neuronal systems. The Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Virginia is training experimentalists in basic science and translational research, always with an eye on disease relevance.  As such, we stress didactic learning for the first year and experiential laboratory-based learning in the second year and beyond.

Our diverse and interdepartmental faculty allows for dynamic, cross-disciplinary training in a variety of basic and translational neuroscience research areas that include the following:  Building and Wiring the Brain; Sensory systems; Neurodegeneration and Brain Injury; Behavior and Epigenetics; Glial and Immune Cells in Health and Disease; Neurodevelopment, Neurocognitive and Neuropsychiatric Disorders; and the Neurobiology of Ion Channels.

Faculty

Neurobiology of the cardiovascular and respiratory system, Central mechanisms linking cardiorespiratory function with affective state and emotion

Psychiatry And Neurobehavioral Sciences

Understanding the Molecular Basis of Macular Degeneration in Order to Hasten the Eradication of Blindness

Systems biology approaches to study gene dosage in neurodevelopment and neurodevelopmental disorders

Mechanisms of neuromodulation in central neurons

Circuit mechanisms of sleep and epilepsy

Pathogenic mechanisms in Alzheimer's Disease and other neurodegenerative disorders

Neuroscience

Use the olfactory system to examine general problems in the brain maturation, including the role of afferent activity on tissue development and the interplay between evolution and development.

Molecular Mechanisms for Membrane Transport and Cell Signaling

The Neurobiology of Energy Balance

Computational genomics and bioinformatics; long-read sequencing; structural variation; genome assembly and pangenomics; human genetic variation and disease genomics

Regulation and Function Serotonergic Neurons During Development

Epigenetic mechanisms involved in complex human disease

Adult-born neurons, perineuronal nets, and microglia in hippocampal plasticity and behavior in health and disease

Neuron-glia and glial-glial interactions

Elucidating and Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying Nervous System Development

Uncovering the molecular etiology of neurodegenerative diseases

Multi-modal brain MRI to study different aspects of neurodegenerative diseases. Effects of mild traumatic brain injury on student athletes. Parkinson's Disease and essential tremor.

Tumor microenvironment and mechanisms of tumor neovascularization

Neural Development; Cell Division in Neural Stem Cells; Axon Outgrowth and Guidance

Developmental Plasticity and Neuropathology of Synaptic Circuitries.

Neuroscience

Brain metabolism, cognitive decline, cholesterol and Alzheimer's disease

Explicating psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of chronic pain.

Impact of APOE and lipid metabolism on cell function in Alzheimer's disease.

Exploring new therapeutics avenues to treat Multiple Sclerosis.

Blinding disease age-related macular degeneration, utilizing the tools of immunology, molecular biology, and engineering.

Status epilepticus

Molecular embryology--gene regulation in cells committed to specific developmental lineages

Circadian entrainment for the treatment of metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases

Regeneration and Systemic Responses to Tissue Damage

Immune response to infectious disease in the CNS

Development and plasticity of sensory systems

Molecular genetics; development and function of neurotransmitter-synthesizing neurons in Drosophila

The Pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other dementia-related disorders.

Neuronal circuits underlying infant behaviors, including sleep and social behavior

Seizures, neuronal excitability and plasticity

Metabolic and Genetic Regulation of Aging, Redox Biology, DNA Repair, Comparative and Functional Genomics, Stress Resistance, Drug Discovery, Evolutionary Biology, Synthetic and Systems Biology for Evolutionary Engineering, Adaptive Evolution, Mitochondrial Signaling, Neurodegenerative Diseases

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis

Neuroscience

The role of glia in the development, maintenance and regeneration of the nervous system

Neural tissue engineering, biomaterials, drug delivery, redox regulation of stem cell fate, engineering cell-interactive microenvironments

Restoration of Homeostasis in Disease

Plastic Surgery

Developing novel neuroprotection strategies to preserve vision in glaucoma

Wnt/PCP signaling in inner ear development Mouse models for human deafness Wnt/PCP signaling in neural tube closure

Neuron-glia communications, brain plasticity and homeostasis, glial responses to neurodegeneration

Understanding How Immunological Pathways Contribute to Neurodegenerative, Neurodevelopmental, Mental and Behavior Disorders

Anesthesiology

Behavioral Pharmacology, Sex Differences, Animal Models of Addiction

Pharmacology

Neural Mechanisms of Pattern Learning and Recognition in the Auditory System

Neuroscience

Understanding the neural code underlying motivated behaviors like feeding, drinking, and social interaction, with a focus on how malfunction in associated brain areas are involved in diseases like addiction and eating disorders

Investigating the cell-biological foundations of development

Developmental Genetics, Evolution and Regeneration

Understanding the cellular mechanisms by which seizures are initiated in SCN8A epileptic encephalopathy (DEE13) and temporal lobe epilepsy. My lab uses a number of experimental techniques including patch clamp electrophysiology and in vivo seizure monitor

Exploring epilepsy circuits then preventing seizures using gene therapies. Developing drug-inducible genetic switches for insulin replacement gene therapies.

Image Guided Drug and Gene Delivery for Neurodegeneration and Cancer; Focused Ultrasound and Immunotherapy; Arteriogenesis and Angiogenesis

The Proctor Laboratory integrates systems biology with molecular, cellular, and systems neuroscience into a cutting-edge framework for investigation of multi-scale mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease risk, onset, and progression.

The Role of Melanopsin Retinal Ganglion Cells in the Photic Regulation of Mammalian Circadian Rhythms

Innate Inflammatory Pathways Associated with Acute Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Novel therapeutic approaches to brain cancers and to other neurologic diseases

Delineate the physiological importance and structure-function relationship of ER-associated degradation in humans.

Assembly and Plasticity of Neural Circuits

Anti-tumor immunity in brain tumors, Cancer Neuroscience

Auditory Neurobiology

Regulation of neural stem cell proliferation during development and adulthood

Sensory processing and plasticity

Role of Glia in Neurological Illnesses and Cancer

Spatial Cell Biology. Neuronal Morphogenesis and Disease. Cancer Migration and Invasion.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Analytical Neurochemistry; Dopamine and Serotonin Neurotransmission in Drosophila; Mechanisms of rapid adenosine signaling in rodents

Psychiatry And Neurobehavioral Sciences

Neural control of cardiorespiratory function in health and disease

Endosomal function and dysfunction in neurons. Development of the nervous system: cytoskeleton and membrane traffic in axon and dendrite growth.

Cardiovascular Development and Cerebrovascular Pathologies

Development and regulation of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and blood vessels as they relate to retinal diseases.

Mechanisms of Huntington's Disease Pathogenesis

Single Cell Analysis