Neuroscience Faculty

Ege T. Kavalali
Professor and Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Program
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Mechanisms underlying synaptic computation in the CNS

Ilya B. Bezprozvanny, PhD 
Professor
Department of Physiology
Research Interests: Calcium channels and calcium signaling in the nervous system; deranged calcium signaling and neurodegeneration in Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease

James A. Bibb, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Signal transduction in the nervous system, with emphasis on the biochemistry and neuropharmacology of protein phosphorylation/dephosphorylation

Stephen Cannon, MD, PhD 
Professor
Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics
Research Interests: How ion channels regulate electrical excitability of cells and of how defects in these channels lead to human disease

Roberto Coppari, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
Research Interests: Cellular mechanisms and neuronal pathways controlling glucose and energy homeostasis

Christopher Cowan, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of axon guidance and synapse formation/remodeling

Amelia Eisch, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Function of adult neurogenesis in the brain

Carol Elias, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
Research Interests: Neural pathways linking energy balance and reproduction

Jeffrey Elliott, MD
Professor
Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics
Research Interests: Molecular and cellular basis for function of the ALS  disease gene SOD1

Joel Elmquist, DVM, PhD
Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
Research Interests: Functional neuroanatomy of the mammalian hypothalamus

Matthew S. Goldberg, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of inherited forms of Parkinson’s disease using transgenic and knockout mice. Areas of particular interest include oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction

Carla Green, PhD
Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms and how they control metabolism

Robert W. Greene, PhD 
Professor
Department of Psychiatry/Dallas Vetarans Affairs Medical Center
Research Interests: Circuit dysfunction in psychiatric disorders; Role of adenosine in function of sleep

Mark Henkemeyer, PhD
Professor
Department of Developmental Biology
Research Interests: Molecular biology of axon guidance

Robin Hiesinger, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology
Research Interests: Neurogenetics; brain wiring/synaptic specification; synapse function/neurotransmitter release membrane fusion; computational approaches to 4D visualization and simulation

Donald W. Hilgeman, PhD
Professor
Department of Physiology
Research Interests: Function and regulation of membrane transporters; electrophysiology; biophysics of ion pumps and channels

Jenny Hsieh, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Stem cell biology; neurogenesis and gliogenesis in CNS; chromatin remodeling; neurological diseases

Kimberly M. Huber, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Mechanisms of synapse development, plasticity and circuit function and alterations of these processes in mouse models of mental retardation and autism

Jiang Qui-Xing, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Cell Biology
Research Interests: Protein complexes involved in critical cellular functions by a combination of cryo-electron microscopy and physiological methods; current focus on a voltage-gated potassium channel and an IP3 receptor

Jane E. Johnson, PhD 
Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Molecular control of neuronal diversity and balancing progenitor cell maintenance with neuronal differentiation in the vertebrate central nervous system implications for tumor progression in neural and neuroendocrine cancers

Genevieve Konopka, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Neurodevelopmental signaling pathways involved in cognition and neuropsychiatric disorders; comparative gene expression for insight into human brain evolution

Tae-Kyung Kim, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Gene expression program in cognitive behavior and disease

Helmut J. Krämer, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Genetic dissection of endocytic trafficking in Drosophila

Shuxin Li, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology
Research Interests: Axonal regeneration in the central nervous system; cell death and neuronal survival; spinal cord injury

Weichun Lin, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Developmental neurobiology

Qing Richard Lu , PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Developmental Biology
Research Interests: Molecular and epigenetic mechanisms of neural differentiation and gliogenesis

Michael Lutter, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Signaling pathways that regulate the bi-directional association between psychiatric illness and metabolic disorders

Colleen McClung, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of mood disorders and drug addiction

Lisa Monteggia, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Elucidating antidepressant efficacy; functional molecular and behavioral approach to autism spectrum disorders; cellular basis of psychiatric disorders

Luis F. Parada, PhD
Professor
Department of Developmental Biology
Research Interests: The role of proto-oncogenes in vertebrate development; TRK receptors and neurotropins

Juan Pascual, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology
Research Interests: Animal and cellular models of neurogenetic disorders; synaptic transmission in experimental epilepsies; disorders of brain energy metabolism; developmental neurobiology; genotype:phenotype correlations in novel childhood encephalopathies; clinical pediatric neurology

Andrew Pieper, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disease

Craig Powell, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurology/Psychiatry
Research Interests: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of cognition with an emphasis on learning and memory

Janine Prange-Kiel, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Cell Biology
Research Interests: Locally produced estradiol has been demonstrated to be important for the regulation of synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. However, very little is known about the factors that regulate the expression of aromatase, the enzyme that converts testosterone into estradiol, in the brain. Our lab uses cell culture techniques and molecular approaches to learn more about the regulation of aromatase expression in the hippocampus of rats and mice.

José Rizo-Rey (Josep Rizo), PhD
Professor
Department of Biochemistry/Pharmacology
Research Interests: Biophysical studies of the mechanisms of neurotransmitter release and intracellular membrane fusion

Adrian Rothenfluh, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Drug-induced behaviors in Drosophila to learn more about the genes, signaling pathways, and brain circuits mediating these behaviors, with the goal of gaining insights into vertebrate addiction

Michael D. Rugg, PhD
Department of Behavioral & Brain Science, University of Dallas Adjunct
Research Interests: Neural systems underlying encoding and retrieval in human memory, investigated with functional neuroimaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation; neural bases of cognitive aging, especially with respect to memory

David W. Russell, PhD
Professor
Department of Molecular Genetics
Research Interests: Lipid metabolism; enzymes that synthesize or break down different types of lipids, and examining the roles these enzymes play in whole body lipid metabolism

David W. Self, PhD
Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Neurobiology of motivational systems and drug addiction

Dean P. Smith, MD, PhD 
Associate Professor
Department of Pharmacology
Research Interests: Molecular biology of sensory transduction in Drosophila

Joe Takahashi, PhD
Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Molecular and Genetic Analysis of the Mammalian Circadian Clock System

Carol Tamminga, MD
Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests: Schizophrenia; postmortem brain; human brain imaging; human translational neuroscience

Jonathan Terman, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Axon growth and guidance; neuronal connectivity; axon regeneration; actin cytoskeleton; spinal cord injury and degeneration

Jiang Wu, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology
Research Interests: Chromatin regulation of mammalian neural development; function of chromatin remodeling complexes in key signaling pathways that regulate neural stem cell self-renewal, differentiation, and post-mitotic neuronal development

Masashi Yanagisawa, MD, PhD
Professor
Department of Molecular Genetics
Research Interests: Identification and characterization of new neuropeptides that regulate vital functions such as sleep, appetite and blood pressure.

Gang G. Yu, PhD 
Professor
Department of Molecular Genetics
Research Interests: Molecular genetic analysis of sleep/wake

Chun-Li Zhang, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Transcriptional regulation of neural stem cells and their role in regeneration and brain tumors