Our Team
The diverse laboratories that make up the Hope Center represent scientists and physician scientists on the Medical and Danforth campuses of Washington University. In addition to the Principal Investigator of each laboratory, there are graduate students, post docs, technicians, and others, more than 650 investigators in total, who ensure that research moves forward.
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Dana Abendschein, PhD
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Safe, Effective Treatment of Thrombosis and Vascular Injury Read More
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Beau Ances MD, PhD, MSc
Associate Professor of Neurology
Therapeutic Strategies for HIV Associated Neurocognitive Impairment Read More
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Yuna Ayala, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, St. Louis University
Role of RNA processing and TDP-43 function in neurodegeneration Read More
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Randall Bateman, MD
Charles F. and Joanne Knight Distinguished Professor of Neurology
Alzheimer’s Disease: Pathophysiology, biomarkers, predictive diagnostics and treatments Read More
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Philip Bayly, PhD
Lilyan and E. Lisle Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Biomechanical factors in traumatic injury to the brain and spinal cord Read More
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Mikhail Berezin, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Investigation of the optical contrast agents and spectrscopy for medical imaging and clinical treatment Read More
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Jan Bieschke, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Mechanisms and therapeutic strategies in age-related protein misfolding Read More
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Kendall Blumer, PhD
Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology
Signal transduction in the cardiovascular, nervous and visual systems
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Azad Bonni, MD, PhD
Edison Professor of Neurobiology
Identifying key mechanisms and principles that govern neuronal connectivity in brain development and disease Read More
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David Brody, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Translational research in traumatic brain injury Read More
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Michael Bruchas, PhD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Genetic, pharmacological, and behavioral dissection of G-protein coupled receptor signal transduction in pain and neuropsychiatric disorders
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Nigel Cairns, PhD, FRCPath
Professor of Neurology
Protein misfolding, inclusion formation and neurodegeneration in Frontotemperal Dementias Read More
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Yu-Qing Cao, PhD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
Voltage-gated calcium channel, synaptic transmission and pathophysiology of migraine headache
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Anil Cashikar, PhD
Assistant Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology
Multivesicular body and ESCRT functions in proteostasis Read More
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Valeria Cavalli, PhD
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Molecular, cellular and epigenetic mechanisms regulating axon regeneration Read More
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Marina Cella, PhD
Associate Professor, Pathology & Immunology
Understanding immune responses in health and disease Read More
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Zhou-Feng Chen, PhD
Professor of Anesthesiology
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of itch sensation
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Milan G Chheda, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Neurology
Chromatin regulation and its role in maintaining tumor initiation cells and normal neural stem cells Read More
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John Cirrito, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Relationship between synaptic activity and amyloid-beta metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease Read More
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Sharlee Climer, PhD
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Development of combinatorial methods for the identification of patterns in genetic data Read More
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Joseph Corbo, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology & Immunology
Transcriptional regulatory networks in photoreceptor development, evolution, and disease Read More
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Anne Cross, MD
Professor of Neurology
Neuroimmunology related to multiple sclerosis Read More
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Carlos Cruchaga, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Second-generation sequencing technology to identify rare variants implicated in neurodegenerative diseases Read More
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Ralph Dacey, MD
Henry G & Edith Schwartz Professor of Neurosurgery
Regulatory mechanisms of the cerebrovascular microcirculation Read More
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Adish Dani, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pathology & Immunology
High-resolution imaging of synaptic architecture and function Read More
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Marc Diamond, MD
Professor of Neurology & Neurotherapeutics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
Therapeutic Mechanisms in Human Disease: Polyglutamine Disease Pathogensis and Protein Misfolding in Tauopathy Read More
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Aaron DiAntonio, MD, PhD
Alan A and Edith L Wolff Professor of Developmental Biology
Axonal biology in development and disease Read More
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Krikor Dikranian, MD, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
Neurodegeneration in the developing and mature brain Read More
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Abhinav Diwan, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Regulation of Lysosome function in Cellular Physiology and Pathology Read More
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Gerald Dorn, MD
Philip & Sima K Needleman Professor of Medicine
Pink-parkin signaling and mitochondrial quality control Read More
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Nico Dosenbach, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatric Neurology
Understanding use-driven brain network plasticity in children with brain injury, in order to develop novel neurorehabilitative treatments Read More
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Joseph Dougherty, PhD
Assistant Professor of Genetics
Identification of genes and cell types responsible for neurological disorders in humans Read More
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Alex Evers, MD
Henry E Mallinckrodt Professor of Anesthesiology
Molecular mechanisms of anesthetics in the nervous system Read More
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Anne Fagan, PhD
Professor of Neurology
Cerebrospinal fluid and plasma biomarkers of early stage Alzheimer’s Disease Read More
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Carl Frieden, PhD
Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Protein folding, structure Read More
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Harrison Gabel, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
Exploration of functions for neuron-specific regulators of gene expression, leveraging genes and mechanisms implicated in human neurologic disease to point us toward critical pathways in the brain Read More
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Robert Gereau, PhD
Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology
Roles of mGluRs in pain plasticity Read More
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Alison Goate, DPhil
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Genetic and genomic approaches to uncovering susceptibility to neurological and psychiatric diseases Read More
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Jeffrey Gordon, MD
Dr Robert J Glaser Distinguished University Professor
Gut microbiota immaturity in undernutrition and its effects on brain development
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Christina Gurnett, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Genetic basis of epilepsy Read More
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Dennis Hallahan, MD
Elizabeth H and James S McDonnell III Distinguished Professor of Medicine
The mechanisms of cell death in normal tissues during cancer therapy Read More
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Phyllis Hanson, MD, PhD
Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology
Protein-protein and protein-membrane interactions in neuronal membrane trafficking Read More
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Charles Harris, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Molecular effects of the glucocorticoid stress hormones Read More
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Tamara Hershey, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry
Clinical and cognitive neuroscience Read More
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Erik Herzog, PhD
Professor of Biology
Molecular mechanism of circadian rhythms Read More
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Didier Hodzic, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
Role of LINC complexes (Linkers of the Nucleoskeleton to the Cytoskeleton) in nucleokinesis and neuronal migration Read More
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David Holtzman, MD
Andrew B & Gretchen P Jones Professor of Neurology
Cellular/Molecular/Biomarker studies of Alzheimer’s Disease and neonatal brain injury Read More
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Timothy Holy, PhD
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Neural mechanisms of pheromone detection, recognition, and olfactory learning; novel optical methods for recording neuronal activity Read More
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Shin-ichiro Imai, MD, PhD
Professor of Developmental Biology
Understanding the molecular mechanism of aging and longevity in mammals Read More
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Mark Jacquin, PhD
Professor of Neurology
Molecular mechanisms of mammalian sensory system development, plasticity and repair Read More
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Sanjay Jain, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine
GFL-Ret mediated mechanisms in the development, repair and regeneration of the nervous and urogenital systems Read More
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Eugene Johnson, PhD
Professor of Neurology
Biological function and pharmacological potential of GFL neurotrophic factors Read More
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Celeste Karch, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Molecular mechanisms underlying tauopathies Read More
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Daniel Kerschensteiner, MD
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
Neural circuit assembly and visual processing in the retina Read More
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Albert Kim, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Signaling pathways in brain development and malignant brain tumors Read More
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Robyn Klein, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Cellular and molecular studies of viral and autoimmune encephalitides Read More
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Vitaly Klyachko, PhD
Associate Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology
Understanding the synaptic basis for neural plasticity with the goal of understanding how neural circuits analyze information Read More
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Paul Kotzbauer, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease and related disorders Read More
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Kristen Kroll, PhD
Associate Professor of Developmental Biology
Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of neural development Read More
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Terrance Kummer, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Mechanisms of neuronal injury in acute brain trauma Read More
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Jin-Moo Lee, MD, PhD
Professor of Neurology
Understanding the molecular pathogenesis of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage Read More
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Eric Lenze, MD
Professor of Psychiatry
Treatment of anxiety disorders and depression in older adults Read More
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Mingjie Li, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Developing viral vectors for applications in neuroscience Read More
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David Limbrick, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
Neuronal membrane physiology, patch-clamp electrophysiology, CSF proteomics, hydrocephalus, neuroprosthetics, brain tumor biology Read More
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Brendan Lucey, MD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Understanding the relationship between sleep, the amyloid beta diurnal pattern, and Alzheimer’s disease Read More
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Susan Mackinnon, MD
Sydney M & Robert H Shoenberg Professor of Surgery
Allograft and the effects of GDNF on Peripheral Nerve Regeneration Read More
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Moe Mahjoub, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Mechanisms of cell-cell signaling in normal development and neurodegenerative disease Read More
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Soe Soe Mar, MD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Pediatric multiple sclerosis and other white matter diseases, and pediatric migraine Read More
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James (Pat) McAllister, PhD
Professor of Neurosurgery
Improving clinical treatments for hydrocephalus Read More
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Robert Mecham, PhD
Alumni Endowed Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology
Cell-matrix interactions, extracellular matrix and development, vascular development and disease Read More
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Steven Mennerick, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry
Physiology of glutamate and GABA neurotransmission in the CNS Read More
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Jeffrey Milbrandt, MD, PhD
James S McDonnell Professor of Genetics
Axonal degeneration, regulation of myelination, neuronal energetics and mitochondrial function in neuropathy and neurodegenerative disease Read More
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Timothy Miller, MD, PhD
David Clayson Professor of Neurology
New, effective, and safe treatments for neurodegenerative diseases Read More
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Liviu Mirica, PhD
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Development of therapeutic and imaging chemical agents for Alzheimer’s disease; Design of specific inhibitors of histone demethylases Read More
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Robi Mitra, PhD
Alvin Goldfarb Professor of Computational Biology
Technology development for functional genomics and systems biology Read More
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Kelly Monk, PhD
Associate Professor of Developmental Biology
Molecular mechanisms of myelin formation and repair Read More
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John Morris, MD
Harvey A & Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology
Establishing phenotypes for inherited forms of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias Read More
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Erik Musiek, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Aging, oxidative stress, and circadian clock genes in neurodegenerative diseases Read More
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Jeanne Nerbonne, PhD
Alumni Endowed Professor of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology in Developmental Biology and Internal Medicine
Molecular mechanisms controlling the regulation and dysregulation of membrane excitability in the cardiovascular and nervous systems Read More
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Colin Nichols, PhD
Carl Cori Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology
Biology of ion channels, with emphasis on the molecular basis of potassium channel activity, and the role of potassium channels in physiology and disease Read More
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Karen O’Malley, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
Mechanisms underlying the specification, regulation and neurodegeneration of dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems Read More
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David Ornitz, MD, PhD
Alumni Endowed Professor of Developmental Biology
Neuronal development, regeneration, physiology Read More
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Daniel Ory, MD
Alan A and Edith L Wolff Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Molecular basis of Niemann-Pick C disease and the regulation of NPC1 and NPC2 genes in cholesterol homeostasis Read More
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Rohit Pappu, PhD
Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering
Mechanisms of aggregation and neurodegeneration in polyglutamine expansion disorders, specifically Huntington’s disease Read More
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David Perlmutter, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Dean
Cellular mechanisms to clear misfolded proteins, and therapies to minimize toxicity by stimulating degradation of misfolded proteins Read More
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Joel Perlmutter, MD
Elliot Stein Professor of Neurology
Pharmacology, physiology and pathophysiology of basal ganglia and movement disorders Read More
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Richard Perrin, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pathology & Immunology
Novel cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognosis, and staging of neurodegenerative diseases
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Alan Pestronk, MD
Professor of Neurology
Diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment of immune, hereditary and degenerative neuromuscular disorders Read More
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Steve Petersen, PhD
James S McDonnell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience
Behavioral and fMRI studies of attention and cognitive development Read More
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Laura Piccio, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Induction and regulation of adaptive autoimmune responses in Multiple Sclerosis Read More
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Nicola Pozzi, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, St. Louis University
Molecular mechanisms of thrombosis and immunothrombosis Read More
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Brad Racette, MD
Professor and Executive Vice Chairman of Neurology
Environmental epidemiology of Parkinson disease Read More
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Marcus Raichle, MD
Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Functional brain imaging with positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance Read More
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Wilson (Zack) Ray, MD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Development of innovative technology targeting neuroprosthetic interfaces Read More
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Joshua Rubin, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Biology and treatment of pediatric brain tumors Read More
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Daniela Salvemini, PhD
Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology
A translational bench to bedside approach towards the discovery of novel analgesics Read More
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Mark Sands, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Pathophysiology and novel therapies for lysosomal storage diseases Read More
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Anneliese Schaefer, JD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Hope Center Executive Director Read More
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Bradley Schlaggar, MD, PhD
A Ernest & Jane G Stein Professor of Developmental Neurology, in Neurology
The development and plasticity of human cognition and language Read More
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Robert Schmidt, MD, PhD
Professor of Pathology & Immunology
Pathogenetic mechanisms of diabetic and age-related autonomic neuropathy Read More
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Lori Setton, PhD
Lucy & Stanley Lopata Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Combines methods of engineering & biology to regulate disc and cartilage health and healing Read More
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Michael Shoykhet, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Establish mechanistic basis for selective vulnerability of defined neuronal population to hypoxic-ischemic insult Read More
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Itender Singh, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Neurovascular dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and stroke Read More
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James Skeath, PhD
Professor of Genetics
Genetic analysis of neural and muscular development in the Drosophila embryo Read More
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Joy Snider, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Mechanisms of protein degradation and intracellular calcium homeostasis in neurodegenerative disorders Read More
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Alison Snyder-Warwick, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Investigating the interface between nerve and muscle Read More
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Sheng-Kwei (Victor) Song, PhD
Professor of Radiology
Development of non-invasive imaging of central nervous system white matter Read More
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William Spees, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
White-matter diffusion fMRI Read More
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Paul Taghert, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
Circadian neurobiology and developmental neurobiology Read More
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Liu Lin Thio, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Glycine receptors in the central nervous system Read More
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Heather True-Krob, PhD
Associate Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology
Protein misfolding and aggregation of prion proteins Read More
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Fumihiko Urano, MD, PhD
Samuel E Schechter Professor of Medicine
Patient-based therapeutic development for Wolfram syndrome, the link between endoplasmic reticulum and neurodegeneration Read More
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Gregory Van Stavern, MD
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences
Neuro-inflammation in patients with optic neuritis (ON) affects neuronal activity within visual pathways Read More
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Andrei Vlassenko, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Advanced neuroimaging techniques in aging and neurodegenerative disorders Read More
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Lihong Wang, PhD
Gene K Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Functional and molecular imaging by non-ionizing electromagnetic and ultrasonic waves Read More
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Yong Wang, PhD
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Developing and applying MRI methods for quantification of pathological changes in neurodegeneration diseases Read More
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Conrad (Chris) Weihl, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology
Protein degradation pathways and their relation to aging, muscle weakness and neurodegeneration Read More
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Michael Wong, MD, PhD
Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Professor of Pediatric Neurology
Cellular mechanisms of epileptogenesis and seizure-induced brain injury Read More
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Matthew Wood, PhD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Development of therapeutics and diagnostics for peripheral nerve injuries Read More
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David Wozniak, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry
Role of NMDA receptors in neuropathologic changes and cognitive decline Read More
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Gregory Wu, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Antigen presentation and inflammation in the central nervous system Read More
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Kelvin Yamada, MD
Professor of Neurology
Modulation and derangements of synaptic transmission at central nervous system synapses Read More
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Qin Yang, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology
Understand neural cell reprogramming/regeneration and generate “safe” neural cells for neurological disorder treatment Read More
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Hiroko Yano, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Molecular pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases; Epigenetic regulation of gene expression in Huntington’s disease Read More
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Andrew Yoo, PhD
Assistant Professor of Developmental Biology
MicroRNA-mediated neuronal reprogramming and chromatin remodeling Read More
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Weixiong Zhang, PhD
Professor of Computer Science & Engineering
Whole transcriptions modeling and analysis in neurodegenerative diseases Read More
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Gregory Zipfel, MD
Professor of Neurosurgery
Role of cerebral amyloid angiopathy on cerebral blood flow, cerebral ischemia, cerebral hemorrhage, and dementia; Pathophysiology and novel therapeutic approaches for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage Read More
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Charles Zorumski, MD
Samuel B Guze Professor & Chair of Psychiatry
Modulation of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission Read More
