Neuroscience-Department of Biological Sciences - Carnegie Mellon University

Neuroscience

Eric T. Ahrens

Professor

The Ahrens laboratory develops unique molecular and cellular MRI probes to visualize gene expression and immune cell trafficking into the brain. In related efforts, the researchers seek to understand the homeostasis of metal ions in brain tissues.
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Alison L. Barth

Associate Professor

The Barth group has generated transgenic mice that express fluorescent proteins in response to neural activity, providing a way to image and record from activated neural subsets. The laboratory is using this tool and others to identify specific cortical pathways that are involved in learning and memory.
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Marcel P. Bruchez

Associate Professor

The Bruchez Group is studying the balance of protein synthesis, folding, trafficking and degradation in axon navigation and synaptic stabilization through the development and use of novel fluorescent technologies that can be applied in whole brain in living animals. 
Webpage, Group Website

Aryn H. Gittis

Assistant Professor

The Gittis lab is interested in the organization and function of neural circuits in the basal ganglia.  We use a combined approach of electrophysiology, behavior, and control of neural circuits in vivo using pharmacology and optogenetics to study the role of the basal ganglia in learning, movement, and neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease and dystonia.
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Sandra J. Kuhlman

Assistant Professor

The Kuhlman laboratory is investigating the circuit changes that underlie behavioral adaptation and learning in young versus adult brains.
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Carl R. Olson

Affiliated Biological Sciences Faculty

Researchers in the Olson laboratory study the brain mechanisms of cognition by recording from single neurons in the cerebral cortex of behaving monkeys. Research interests include spatial vision, visual pattern recognition and executive control.
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Manojkumar A. Puthenveedu

Assistant Professor

The Puthenveedu laboratory studies how neuronal signaling pathways are regulated by membrane trafficking. We focus on trafficking events that regulate signaling by opioid and related receptors involved in drug addiction.
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Nathan N. Urban

Department Head

Currently, work in the Urban lab focuses on understanding the physiological mechanisms underlying the functional and computational properties of brain neuronal networks, focusing on the olfactory system. In particular, we are interested in measuring the detailed anatomical and physiological properties of cells and synapses and then constructing models that provide insight into how these physiological properties give rise to circuits that transform and store information in the brain.
Faculty Webpage