Neuroscience

Eric T. Ahrens
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.

Alison Barth
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.

Justin Crowley
The mechanisms underlying the development of neuronal structure and function in the visual system, including the complex interactions between neural activity, sensory experience and genetics in the generation of neuronal circuits, are a prominent area of research in the Crowley laboratory.

Mark R. Macbeth
The Macbeth lab is interested in the editing, or modification, of mRNAs that encode several neuronal receptors and ion channels. The adenosine to inosine mutations in the mRNA are essential for proper neuronal function, and research in the lab focuses on the regulation of the editing activity by a cell signaling molecule (inositol hexakisphosphate), as well as the effects of RNA editing on the activity of the encoded neural receptors and ion channels.

Carl R. Olson
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.

Joel R. Stiles
The Stiles laboratory uses spatially realistic 3-D models, unique Monte Carlo simulation algorithms (MCell), large-scale visualization methods (DReAMM), and high performance computing to study synaptic transmission and biochemical signaling pathways. Present projects focus on postsynaptic topology and quantal current variability at the mammalian neuromuscular junction, as well as presynaptic calcium dynamics and neurotransmitter release at the amphibian neuromuscular junction.

Nathan N. Urban
The Urban laboratory studies excitatory and inhibitory circuits in the mouse olfactory bulb using paired recordings and optical imaging to understand how these circuits both transform and are dynamically altered by patterns of odor-evoked activity.