Neuroscience Research

Neuroscience research at RFUMS includes investigations into: 

• Molecular approaches towards the treatment of deafness, imbalance, and vision (Michelle Hastings)
• Recruitment of adult endogenous stem cells to generate replacement neurons for brain repair (Dan Peterson)
• The role of the amygdala in mediating the influence of emotion on behavior, memory, learning, and psychiatric disorders (J. Amiel Rosenkranz)
• The cellular mechanisms underlying age-dependent modulation of cortical activity, and its relevance to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia (Kuei Tseng)
• How neural networks process information, store memory, and generate behavior (William Frost)
• The functional organization of the basal ganglia especially with regard to the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the regulation of basal ganglia-cortical interactions (Heinz Steiner)
• The structural neurobiology of processing enzymes. (Marc Glucksman)
• The pathways and mechanisms in the brain involved in the generation of stress resilience which likely will prove useful for preventive and therapeutic treatment of anxiety-related disorders (Janice Urban)
• Identification and characterization of genes responsible for neuromuscular diseases, including muscular dystrophies (Hongkyun Kim)
• Neuroplasticity of reciprocal neuronal circuit between the hypothalamus and extended amygdala in mediating long-term changes in anxiety and affective behavior following stress exposure (Joanna Dabrowska)
• Understanding the interdigitation of stress and pain pathways using a systematic approach to examine the contribution of subsets of GABAergic neurons in the amygdala to the generation of affective disorders. (Eugene Dimitrov)
• Neural circuits controlling breathing and other rhythmic motor behaviors (Kaiwen Kam)