Degree Program Offered: Doctor of Philosophy
Director of Graduate Program: Professor John E. Pintar, RWJMS, Room 363, Busch Campus (732-235-5388)
Members of the Graduate Faculty
Janet Alder, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology; RWJMS; Ph.D., Columbia
Role of trophic factors in neuronal
development and psychiatric disorders
Maureen M. Barr, Professor of Genetics, SAS/WIM; Ph.D., Columbia
Sensory biology, innate behaviors, and neuroplasticity in C. elegans
Qian Cai, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS; M.D., Ph.D., NIH/Shanghai Second Medical
Autophagy-lysosomal regulation in neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration
Timothy M. Casey, Professor of Entomology, SEBS; Ph.D., California (Los Angeles)
Respiration; bioenergetics; thermoregulation
Davide Comoletti, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS/CHINJ; Ph.D., Mario Negri Institute (Milan), D.V.M., Milan
Autism; structural biology; molecular and cellular neuroscience
Gabriella D'Arcangelo, Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., SUNY (Stony Brook)
Molecular mechanisms of neuronal proliferation, differentiation, and migration
Robin L. Davis, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS;
Ph.D., Stanford
Regeneration and electrophysiology of peripheral
auditory neurons
Emanuel M. DiCicco-Bloom, Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Pediatrics (Neurology), RWJMS; M.D., Cornell
Medical College
Cellular and molecular regulation of
neurogenesis; animal models of autism; effects of environmental factors on brain development
Cheryl F. Dreyfus, Chair and Professor of Neuroscience and Cell
Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D., Cornell
Role of environmental factors
on brain neuron ontogeny
Monica
Driscoll, Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, SAS;
Ph.D., Harvard
Molecular genetics of neurodegeneration and aging;
mechanotransduction
Isaac Edery, Professor of
Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, SAS/CABM; Ph.D., McGill (Canada)
Molecular mechanisms underlying biological clocks
Julie M. Fagan, Associate Professor of Animal Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D.,
Arizona
Muscle growth; mechanisms of protein breakdown in mammalian
cells in health and in disease
Bonnie Firestein, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience,
SAS; Ph.D., California (San Diego)
Regulation of dendritic
morphology; targeting of neuronal proteins and the neuronal cytoskeleton; iPSC technology to model schizophrenia and autism; microelectrode array analysis of neural circuitry
Martin Grumet, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS;
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins
Stem cells and transplantation into the nervous system
Ronald Hart, Professor of Cell Biology and
Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., Michigan
MicroRNA modulation of neural stem cell gene expression networks
Karl
Herrup, Professor and Chair of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS;
Ph.D., Stanford
Cell cycle regulation in the neuron and its
relationship to neurodegeneration
Sarah Hitchcock-DeGregori, Professor of Neuroscience and
Cell Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D., Case Western Reserve
Actin
cytoskeleton and regulation of actin dynamics using cellular,
biochemical, and biophysical methods
Shu-Chan Hsu, Associate
Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., British
Columbia
Molecular mechanisms of synoptic development and function
Arnold G. Hyndman, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS;
Ph.D., California (Los Angeles)
Development of CNS neurons
Kenneth D. Irvine, Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, WIM/SAS; Ph.D., Stanford
Cell signaling and growth control during Drosophila development
William
G. Johnson, Professor of Neurology, RWJMS; M.D., Columbia
Identifying genes and pathways for human nervous system disorders,
(e.g., neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases)
Eunsung Junn, Assistant Professor of Neurology, RWJMS; Ph.D.,
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Molecular
pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases
Alexander Kusnecov, Associate Professor of Psychology, SAS; Ph.D.,
Newcastle (Australia)
Neurobiological and behavioral effects of cytokines from the
brain and immune system
Kelvin Y. Kwan, Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Faculty Development Chair in
the Life Sciences and Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and
Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., Harvard
Molecular basis of auditory hair cell and neuron generation
John K. Li, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, SE; Ph.D.,
Pennsylvania
Ischemia and oxygenation; neural control of circulation;
stress and biofeedback; biomedical modeling and devices
Peter Lobel, Professor
of Pharmacology, RWJMS; Ph.D., Columbia
Molecular mechanisms
responsible for targeting lysosome in mammalian cells
David J. Margolis, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and
Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., Washington
Imaging neurons, circuit function, and plasticity in mouse
neocortex in vivo
Michael Matise, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D., Pittsburgh
Molecular mechanisms of vertebrate
nervous system development
John P. McGann, Assistant Professor of Psychology, SAS; Ph.D., Yale
Neuroscience of smell; optical imaging; cellular/systems/behavioral/sensory neuroscience
Randall D. McKinnon, Associate Professor of Surgery, RWJMS; Ph.D., McMaster (Canada)
Growth factors and glia
James H. Millonig, Associate Professor of
Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS/CABM; Ph.D., Princeton
Use of human and mouse genetics to understand the biological basis of
human disorders such as autism and neural tube defects
Mary Maral Mouradian, William Dow Lovett Professor of Neurology, Director, Center for Neurodegenerative and Neuroimmunologic Diseases, RWJMS; M.D., American (Beirut)
Molecular pathogenesis and novel therapeutic interventions in Parkinson's disease
Judith A. Neubauer, Professor of
Medicine, RWJMS; Ph.D., Rutgers
Neurobiology of respiratory
control; neuronal responses to hypoxia and CO2
Timothy Otto, Professor of Psychology, SAS; Ph.D., New Hampshire
Neurobiology of
memory; synaptic plasticity; rodent olfactory learning
Richard
W. Padgett, Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, WIM/SAS;
Ph.D., North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
TGFß signaling in development and cancer; trafficking
of receptors; microRNAs in growth control; Drosophila and C.
elegans
Zhiping Pang, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS/CHINJ; Ph.D., Texas (Southwestern)
Mechanisms of synaptic regulation: from stem cell to the brain
Thomas V. Papathomas, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, SE; Ph.D., Columbia
Mechanisms and models for stereo, motion, and texture perception
Kenneth Paradiso, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., Stony Brook
Physiology and pathology of nerve terminals and synaptic transmission
Andre Pietrzykowski, Assistant Professor of Animal Sciences, SEBS;
Ph.D., Medical Center of Postgraduate Education (Warsaw)
Molecular neuroendocrinology of environmental adaptation and
addiction
John E. Pintar, Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D., Oregon
Role of insulin growth factor family during
embryogenesis; development biology of the pituitary gland
Mark R. Plummer, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS;
Ph.D., Stanford
Synaptic plasticity in the developing nervous system
Jamshid Rabii, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., California (San Francisco)
Neuroendocrine regulation of prolactin, LH, and other pituitary hormones
Mladen-Roko Rasin, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS; M.D., Ph.D., Zagreb (Croatia)
Role of posttranscriptional processing events in the normal and lesioned development of neocortical neural stem cells and projection neurons
Troy A. Roepke, Assistant Professor of Animal Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D., California (Davis)
Effects of hormones and environmental stresses on hypothalamic functions
Christopher Rongo, Professor of Genetics, SAS; Ph.D.,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Formation and plasticity of
synapses in the central nervous system
Dipak Sarkar, Professor of Animal Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D., Oxford
Molecular
mechanisms of neuroendocrine cell growth and differentiation
Melitta Schachner, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS;
Ph.D., Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry (Munich, Germany)
Formation of
appropriate connections among nerve cells
Martin Schwander, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., Basel (Switzerland)
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of auditory perception and hearing loss
Federico Sesti, Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D., Genova (Italy)
Role of K+ channels in basic neuronal function and disease
Tetsuo Shimamura, Professor of Pathology, RWJMS; M.D., Ph.D., Yokohama (Japan)
Renal structure and function
Tracey Shors, Professor of Psychology, SAS; Ph.D., Southern
California
Neurogenesis and sex differences in learning and memory
Gleb Shumyatsky, Associate Professor of Genetics, SAS; Ph.D., Moscow
Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying memory of fear
Steven M. Silverstein, Professor of Psychiatry, RWJMS; Ph.D., SUNY (Buffalo)
Cognitive neuroscience of visual processing and memory in schizophrenia; cognitive remediation of schizophrenia
Arabinda K. Sinha, Associate Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, RWJMS; Ph.D., California (San Francisco)
Metabolic alterations between sleep and wakefulness
Patricia Sonsalla, Professor of Neurology, RWJMS/EOHSI;
Ph.D., Utah
Neurodegeneration; Parkinson's disease; neuropharmacology
of dopamine neurons
Smita Thakker-Varia,
Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D.,
Kansas
Growth factors and
neuropeptides in brain injury and mental disorders
Elizabeth B. Torres, Assistant Professor of Psychology, SAS; Ph.D., California (San Diego)
Cognitive psychology; motor memory
Chih-Cheng Tsai, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D., SUNY (Stony Brook)
Molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases; nuclear receptor signaling;
Notch signaling
David
Vicario, Professor of Psychology, SAS; Ph.D., Rockefeller
Auditory and motor physiology; vocal learning; songbirds; neuroethology
William G. Wadsworth, Professor of Pathology, RWJMS; Ph.D., Missouri
Extracellular matrix and axonal guidance
in C. elegans
George Wagner, Professor of Psychology, SAS; Ph.D., Chicago
Neurochemical mechanisms underlying behavior
Mark O. West, Professor of Psychology, SAS; Ph.D., Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Electrophysiological analysis of basal ganglia and limbic circuits in
the rat during cocaine self-administration and habit formation
Long-Jun Wu, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D., University of Science and Technology of China
Microglia-neuron communication in normal and diseased brains
Mengqing Xiang, Professor of Pediatrics, RWJMS; Ph.D., Texas
Molecular mechanisms of sensorineural and CNS development
Wise Young, Professor of Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, and
Neurobiology, SAS; Ph.D., Iowa; M.D., Stanford
Spinal cord nerve
regeneration
Huaye Zhang, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D., Virginia
Molecular mechanisms of dendritic spine morphogenesis and synaptic plasticity
Renping Zhou, Professor of Chemical Biology, EMSP; Ph.D.,
California (Berkeley)
Development of the brain: function of growth
factors and their receptors
Associate Members of the Graduate Faculty
Juan
P. Advis, Professor of Animal Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D., Texas; D.V.M., Austral (Chile)
Neuroendocrinology of reproduction
David Crockett, Assistant
Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology; RWJMS; Ph.D., CUNY
Spinal cord injury; traumatic brain injury; neural plasticity
Joseph V. Martin, Professor and Chair of Biology; FAS-C; Ph.D.,
Southern California
Mechanisms of action of hypnotic drugs
William M. Saidel, Associate Professor of Biology; FAS-C; Ph.D.,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Vision in fishes and the
evolution of vision
Michael V.K. Sukhdeo, Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural
Resources, SEBS; Ph.D., McGill (Canada)
Behavioral ecology of parasitic helminths
in the host environment
