Neuroscience and Brain Disorders

The Department of Neuroscience and Brain Disorders conducts interdisciplinary research spanning fundamental brain physiology and the mechanisms underlying brain dysfunction. Our work spans basic science aimed at understanding core processes, such as learning, memory, neural coding, neural communication, and brain states, to more translational research focused on neurological, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric diseases.

Research in the department addresses fundamental questions of how the brain functions under physiological conditions and how these processes break down in disease. Areas of study include synaptic plasticity, neural circuit dynamics, ion channel function, intracellular and extracellular signaling, the molecular regulation of neuronal activity, as well as larger scale brain systems. These efforts are tightly linked to investigations of brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and other conditions affecting cognition, movement, and behavior.

The department employs a broad spectrum of experimental and computational approaches across biological scales. Our methodologies range from single-molecule and biochemical analyses to cellular and synaptic studies in cultured cells and iPSC-derived models, as well as in vivo investigations using genetic model organisms, including mice, flies, and human studies in healthy individuals and patients. Advanced imaging, electrophysiological, genetic, and computational tools are used to probe brain activity, learning, memory formation, decision-making, and states such as sleep, anesthesia, and altered consciousness.

By integrating approaches across scales and model systems, the department aims to uncover fundamental principles of brain function, to understand how their disruption leads to disease, and ultimately translate basic scientific insights into improving brain health.

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