Faculty
Xiaogang Hu
Huck Chair in Neurorehabilitation; Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Kinesiology, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Neural-machine interface, somatosensory feedback, neural control of biological and bionic hands, neuromuscular disorder.
Timothy Jegla
Emphasis Area Representative, Molecular and Evolutionary Genetics; Associate Professor of Biology
Functional evolution of eukaryotic ion channels and evolution of neuronal signaling and cell structure.
Dezhe Jin
Associate Professor of Physics
Computational models of neural basis of motor control and learning; theoretical analysis of biological neural networks.
Helen Kamens
Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Identification of genetic mechanisms that contribute to complex behaviors with a special emphasis on alcohol and tobacco use.
Laura Klein
Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Biobehavioral effects of stress on drug abuse; sex differences in neuroendocrine and behavioral stress responses; nicotine regulation of stress reactivity.
Reuben Kraft
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Computational methods and high performance computing to examine brain neurotrauma biomechanics; human structural connectome analysis using physics-based predictions of biomechanical brain injury.
Janine Kwapis
Director of the Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders; Assistant Professor of Biology
Molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying learning and memory and age-related memory impairments.
Zhi-Chun Lai
Emphasis Area Representative, Cell and Developmental Biology; Professor of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Signal Transduction, Growth Control, and Cancer Genetics
Nina Lauharatanahirun
Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health and Biomedical Engineering
Using computational modeling, behavioral economic paradigms, and functional neuroimaging (fMRI/EEG) to understand the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying health risk behaviors across the life.
Aimin Liu
Associate Professor of Biology
Biogenesis and function of cilia in mammalian embryonic development.
Elizabeth Losin
Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health; Bennett Pierce Associate Professor of Caring and Compassion in Adulthood
Bidirectional relationship between culture and the brain; for example, how cultural experiences (e.g., discrimination) and social situations (e.g., the doctor-patient relationship) influence pain perception, pain treatment, and associated brain mechanisms
Bernhard Luscher
Emphasis Area Representative, Neurobiology; Professor of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Function of GABAergic synaptic transmission in health and disease, with emphasis of stress based psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorders and mechanisms of antidepressant drug action
Yingwei Mao
Professor of Biology
Regulation of neurogenesis using cellular and mouse models; analysis of abnormal neural progenitor cell (NPC) proliferation and its relationship to mental illnesses; identification of drugs that can reverse mouse models of psychiatric disorders.
Scott Medina
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Design of bio-inspired functional materials that serve as new tools in precision medicine. Understanding how peptides and proteins assemble at natural and non-natural interfaces to form organized structures with unique biochemical functions. The design of nano- and micro-scale biomaterials to develop new biosensing and therapeutic strategies to treat infectious disease, inflammation and cancer.
Jean-Michel Mongeau
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and of Biomedical Engineering