Interdisciplinary Life Science - PULSe Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs

Integrative Neuroscience

Research includes:

  • Addiction
  • Alzheimer's Disease
  • Amyloid Plaques
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Auditory Neuroscience
  • Autism and Fragile X Disease
  • Axonal Growth & Transport
  • Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Blood-Brain Barrier Function
  • Central Nervous System
  • Chronic Pain
  • Cognition, Memory and Learning
  • Computational Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Dopamine
  • Epigentics
  • Epilepsy
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Hearing and Vision Loss
  • Ingestive Behavior
  • Intracellular Signaling
  • Ion Channel Physiology
  • Lewy Bodies
  • Mental Illness
  • Metabolism and Food Intake
  • Mitochondria
  • Molecular Neuropharmacology
  • Molecular Psychiatry
  • Neural Development
  • Neural Networks
  • Neuroanatomy
  • Neurodegeneration
  • Neurofibrillary Tangles
  • Neurofilament
  • Neuron-glia Interactions
  • Neurons
  • Neuropsychopharmacology
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Peripherin
  • Pharmacology
  • Protein Aggregation
  • Receptor Signaling
  • Regulatory Behavior
  • Sensory System Neurobiology (emphasis on the auditory and vestibular systems)
  • Substance Use Disorder
  • Substantia Nigra
  • Superoxide Dismutase
  • Synuclein
  • Tourette's Syndrom
  • Traumatic Injury
  • Tyrosine Hydroxylase
  • Vision and Hearing

Training Group Mission:

Neuroscience is a truly integrative discipline as evidenced by the fact that faculty in this program are drawn from approximately 25 departments representing 6 colleges at Purdue University. Both the breadth and depth of the research programs among the Purdue faculty span the nervous systems of diverse species, e.g. fruit flies, zebra fish, mice, rats, and humans. Further, the research approach among these systems spans the molecular, cellular, physiological, and behavioral levels of analysis. Students enter the program from diverse undergraduate majors, with equally diverse research interests, and consequently receive training across the levels of analysis required to effectively understand the nervous system and its function. One of the special aspects of the Neuroscience Program is that the participating faculty are drawn from departments and schools within Purdue University not typically associated with training in the life sciences. This inherent diversity in the problem areas and technical approaches taken will offer students from other training programs within PULSe this broad perspective in a way that is relevant to their own disciplines and research.


Faculty Membership

Faculty
Research Area
Aguilar, Ruben C

Protein trafficking and membrane transport in relation to the processes of cell polarity establishment and carcinogenic transformation

Bartlett, Edward L.
Central auditory neurophysiology and neuroanatomy at the systems and cellular levels
Bharadwaj, Hari
Systems Neuroscience of Audition, Human Neuroimaging and Electrophysiology, Phenomenological and Biophysical Models of Auditory Computations, Sensorineural Hearing Loss, Auditory Processing Disorders, Autism
Bowman, Aaron

Gene x Environment Interactions in Neurological Disease; Metal Neurotoxicity (manganese, methylmercury, copper); Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Neurodevelopmental disorders

Brewster, Amy
Behavorial Neuroscience
Cannon, Jason
Neurodegeneration, neurotoxicology, Parkinson's disease
Chester, Julia A.
Dr. Chester’s research focuses on the development and characterization of animal models as tools to identify biological and behavioral mechanisms that influence risk for alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and other comorbid psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in humans. Her research has identified factors such as developmental age, biological sex, and genetic factors that influence susceptibility toward alcohol- and anxiety-related behaviors including stress-related alcohol drinking and alcohol withdrawal. Dr. Chester’s research findings have contributed important pre-clinical findings to the literature that are crucial for identifying novel and effective targets to treat AUDs and other common co-occurring conditions.
Chopra, Gaurav

Chemical Immunology: Cell specific chemical perturbation of immune microenvironments in cancer, neurological and immunological disorders

Chubykin, Alexander
Neuronal circuits in visual perception and learning Optogenetics Neurotechnology Autism Alzheimer's Disease Stroke
Dadarlat, Maria
Sensorimotor integration and neuroplasticity; neural prostheses
Ekenstedt, Kari
Genetic and genomic investigation of naturally-occurring canine diseases and traits
Fekete, Donna M.
Inner ear development using zebrafish and chicken embryo animal models.
Fox, Edward A.
Sensory component of the vagus nerve; development and role in regulation of food intake and body weight
Francis, Gregory
Neural network models of human behavior, human-computer interactions, cognitive psychology
Freeman, Jennifer L.
Environmental and molecular toxicology, genomics, and cytogenetics
Giordano, Nicholas J.
Nanostructures and mesoscopic systems, musical acoustics, computational neuroscience, computational physics
Heinz, Michael
We seek to understand and quantify relations between physiological and perceptual effects of sensorineural hearing loss in order to advance diagnostics and rehabilitative strategies.
Hélie, Sebastien
Computational cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, neuroimaging
Hockerman, Gregory
Molecular pharmacology
Huber, Jessica E.

Jessica Huber, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a Professor in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Purdue University. The broad aim of her NIH funded research
program is to understand the multiple factors that influence speech production and cognitive change in older adults with and without Parkinson’s disease (PD) and
to translate findings to clinical treatment. Dr. Huber is the inventor of a small wearable device, the SpeechVive device, to treat communication impairments in
people with PD.

Hudmon, Andy

Neuropharmacology, cell signaling, macromolecular machines, ion channels, kinases and calcium signaling.

Krishna, Jayant

Synaptic and dendritic integration in vitro and in vivo, sensory integration, two-photon imaging, optogenetics, sub-cellular patch-clamp recordings, nanotechology, bioelectronics

Kinzer-Ursem, Tamara
Bionanotechnology and biosensors
Kinzig, Kimberly P.
Neural and endocrine factors involved in the control of food intake and regulation of energy balance
Krishnan, Ananthanarayan
Auditory physiology
Leung, Yuk Fai
Disease-causing gene network and novel therapies for retinal degeneration
Liu, Zhongming
Magnetic resonance imaging, image and signal processing,brain decoding and modeling
Lucas, Jeffrey R.
Use of optimality models in behavioral ecology; energy regulation and communication in birds and mammals
Paschou, Peristera
n/a
Pluta, Scott
Neural basis of sensory perception and sensory-guided behavior
Powley, Terry L.
Identification and mapping of the neural circuitry controlling feeding and drinking
Rickus, Jenna L.
NeuroEngineering / Cellular Neurobiology
Rispoli, Joseph
Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, electromagnetic modeling in tissue
Robles, Estuardo

The cellular basis of visual processing in zebrafish

Rochet, Jean-Christophe (Chris)
The Rochet lab has a long-standing interest in neurodegenerative disorders including PD, DLB, and AD. We have adopted the approach of detailed characterization of proteins linked pathologically and/or genetically to these disorders. We aim to elucidate mechanisms of neurodegeneration relevant to both familial and more common sporadic forms of these diseases.
Rossie, Sandra S.
Signal transduction and protein Ser/Thr phosphatases
Sangha, Susan
Identification of circuits mediating fear, safety and reward behaviors
Shah, Kavita
Drug Discovery in Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease Using Chemical Biology Tools
Shi, Riyi
Cellular and molecular underlying mechanism of nerve damage and recovery
Sjogren, Benita
Regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins regulation by ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation and post-translational, transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms. RGS protein drug discovery.
Strickland, Elizabeth A.
Psychoacoustics, auditory perception by normal and hearing impaired listeners
Suter, Daniel M.

Nervous system development and regeneration following injury, neuronal growth cone motility and guidance, cytoskeletal dynamics, signal transduction, ROS signaling, neuronal mechanics, advanced live cell imaging in vitro and in vivo

Swithers, Susan E.
Development of controls of ingestive behavior in rats
Talavage, Thomas
Applications and techniques to enhance clinical usage of functional neuroimaging; cochlear implant signal processing
Trader, Darci
The Trader laboratory seeks to develop tools to harness the proteasomal machinery to facilitate clearance of diseased cells, especially cancer and virus-infected cells. Our research program will seek to identify compounds that enable us to stimulate, rescue, inhibit, and direct protein degradation of the proteasome. We anticipate discovering compounds that target the proteasome through unprecedented mechanisms of action. Our innovative strategies for the discovery of small molecules that interact with the proteasome will be translated to new therapeutics and tools.
Rijn, Richard M. Van
G-protein coupled receptor pharmacology of addiction and neurological disorders
Watts, Val J.
Signaling of G protein-coupled receptors with an emphasis on dopamine receptors and adenylate cyclases
Weake, Vikki

Aging photoreceptors in the eye show characteristic changes in gene expression. Our lab is interested in understanding the mechanisms that drive these changes in gene expression. These studies provide a model for understanding how aging contributes to ocular diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. Our work is funded by the National Eye Institute of the NIH. We are actively seeking new graduate students, so please contact us if you are interested in joining our group.

Yang, Yang

Specialization: pharmacogenomics, ion channels, electrophysiology, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), neurological diseases (e.g., chronic pain, epilepsy, and autism)

Zelaznik, Howard N.
Theoretical issues in movement coordination and movement timing
Zheng, Wei
Blood-brain barrier and neurotoxicology of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinsonian disorders

Student Membership

Ernest C. Young Hall, Room 170 | 155  S. Grant Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2114 | 765-494-2600

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