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PREP Faculty Directory

Get to know the Northwestern University PREP faculty by searching our directory below. Browse, filter the faculty list or search by keyword to learn more. For a complete list, see our alphabetical list of faculty.

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Ana Maria Acosta, PhD

Associate Professor of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences

I am interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying movement impairments after neural injury or disease and how the nervous system adapts...   Read More  
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Ivan Alekseichuk, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

The Precision Neuromodulation Lab investigates how macroscopic neural communications in the human brain encode cognition and emotions in wellness and disorders...   Read More  
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Luis Amaral, PhD

Erastus Otis Haven Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Neurodegenerative diseases are becoming one of the major causes of death in developed nations. Many of these diseases are strongly associated with aging, prompting the question of which are the changes occurring during aging that have such a large...   Read More  
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Raj Awatramani, PhD

Professor of Neurology

Dysfunctional dopamine (DA) signaling has been associated with a broad spectrum of neuropsychiatric disorders, prompting investigations into how midbrain DA neuron heterogeneity may underpin this variety of behavioral symptoms...   Read More  
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Kynon J Benjamin, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

At the Health Equity for Advancing Research and Technology using Genomic Neuroscience (HEART-GeN) lab, we aim to improve therapeutics for underrepresented communities by investigating the influence of genetic ancestry on molecular signatures in the...   Read More  
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Mark Bevan, PhD

Professor of Neuroscience

Our research is focused on the basal ganglia, a group of subcortical brain nuclei critical for the motivation, selection, and execution of action sequences and the primary site of dysfunction in psychomotor disorders including Parkinson’s...   Read More  
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Insup Choi, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pathology

Understanding the neuronal environment is crucial for addressing neurodegenerative diseases, akin to examining withering trees in a garden...   Read More  
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Anis Contractor, PhD

Professor of Neuroscience

Research in our laboratory is directed at understanding the fundamental mechanisms of synaptic communication and how these processes go wrong in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders...   Read More  
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Daniel Dombeck, PhD

Professor of Neurobiology

The neuronal activity underlying mammalian spatial navigation represents one of the most striking examples of behavioral correlation in the brain. Dr...   Read More  
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Adriana Ferreira, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

The long-term goal of my research is to understand, from a cell and molecular biological perspective, how mammalian central neurons establish and maintain specific synaptic connections...   Read More  
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Marco Gallio

Associate Professor of Neurobiology

Our long term goal is to understand how sensory stimuli are used to build an internal representation of the physical world, and how this representation is in turn processed into our actions and behaviors...   Read More  
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Jaime García-Añoveros, PhD

Professor of Neuroscience, Neurology and Anesthesiology

Transcription factors and chromatin modifications in neural development of inner ear and brain. With genetics, epigenomics and transcriptomics combined with neuroanatomy and neurophysiology we are leading in elucidating how the developing cochlea...   Read More  
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Vladimir Gelfand, PhD

Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

We are interested in mechanisms of neuronal growth and polarity, We are using Drosophila melanogaster neurons in vivo and in culture and work using live-cell imaging, optogenetics, Drosophilas genetics to address these...   Read More  
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Changiz Geula, PhD

Research Professor of Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease

Our laboratory pursues several overlapping areas of research in the human brain, with additional investigations centered on non-human primate models, rodent models and cell culture systems...   Read More  
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Alicia Guemez-Gamboa, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

The main goal of our lab is to understand how neural circuits assemble during development and disease. We are particularly interested on the genetic causes and cellular mechanisms related to circuit defects in autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy...   Read More  
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Mitra Hartmann, PhD

Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering

We are interested in the neuroscience of active sensing behaviors and particularly the sense of touch. We use the rodent whisker (vibrissal) system as a model to gain insight into closed loop sensorimotor control...   Read More  
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CJ Heckman, PhD

Professor of Neuroscience

Electrophysiology and computational modeling of spinal sensorimotor neurons and...   Read More  
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Jennifer Kearney, PhD

Associate Professor of Pharmacology

Research in my laboratory is focused on identifying genetic factors that contribute to severe childhood epilepsies and neurodevelopmental disorders...   Read More  
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John Kessler, MD

Davee Professor of Neurology

Our research has focused extensively on the regulation of gene expression by stem/progenitor cells and their differentiated progeny...   Read More  
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Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neurology

My laboratory harnesses the power of human pluripotent stem cells to study neuronal development as well as to understand how neuronal function is impaired as a result of injury or disease...   Read More  
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Talia Lerner, PhD

Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry & Behavioral Science

The Lerner Lab studies the neural circuit basis of motivation, reward learning, and habit formation. We are particularly interested in how individual variations in dopamine circuit function relate to differences in behavior and neuropsychiatric...   Read More  
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Hao Li, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

My lab utilizes cutting-edge circuit and systems approaches to study how neuropeptidergic circuits mediate valence processing and regulate motivated behaviors...   Read More  
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Yaping Liu, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

The research focus of my lab is on developing and applying computational and high-throughput experimental methods in epigenomics to understand the gene regulation of non-coding genetic variants in different pathological conditions, including brain...   Read More  
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Gianmaria Maccaferri, MD, PhD

Professor of Neuroscience

My interest is focused on the hippocampus, which is an area of the brain involved in higher cognitive functions, and is often the target of neurological illnesses like epilepsy, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease...   Read More  
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Elena Martinelli, PhD, MPH

Professor of Medicine - Infectious Disease

One focus of the research in the lab is the impact of HIV in the CNS, including HIV persistance mechanisms and consequences (such as HIV-related neurocognitive...   Read More  
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Malcolm McIver, PhD

Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Professor MacIver believes that the body’s mechanical intelligence can be just as important, if not more important, than what’s going on in your head...   Read More  
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Andrew Miri, PhD

Assistant Professor of Neurobiology

The patterns of muscle activation that drive movement reflect an interplay between neuronal circuits in the spinal cord and an array of motor system regions...   Read More  
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Richard Morimoto, PhD, MPH

Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Biology

Human lifespan has increased dramatically, and with this is the increased risk for dementia and neurodegenerative diseases...   Read More  
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Elizabeth Norton, PhD

Associate Professor and Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, Communication Sciences and Disorders

My research focuses on understanding typical reading and language development as well as developmental and learning disabilities, including dyslexia, developmental language disorder, and autism spectrum disorders...   Read More  
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Robin Nusslock, PhD

Associate Professor of Psychology

My research program uses neuroscientific methods to examine order and disorder in the emotional brain...   Read More  
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Puneet Opal, MD, PhD

Professor of Neurology

The long-term goal of my laboratory is to understand the cellular basis of neurodegeneration. We are testing the idea that neurodegeneration results from derangements in relatively few but strategic sub-cellular pathways...   Read More  
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Loukia Parisiadou, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

Our laboratory studies the molecular basis of Parkinson's disease (PD) with a focus on the cellular and molecular pathways dysregulated by PD-linked genes such as α-synuclein and LRRK2...   Read More  
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Reesha Patel, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Our goal is to understand how neuroimmune signaling and social factors impact neural circuits and behavior, and if we can harness immune mechanisms to reprogram circuits to treat neuropsychiatric disorders...   Read More  
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Eric Perreault, PhD

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research in our group focuses on understanding the neural and biomechanical factors involved in the normal control of multi-joint movement and posture and how these factors are modified following neuromotor pathologies such as stroke and spinal cord...   Read More  
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Heather Pinkett, PhD

Associate Professor, Molecular Biosciences

ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters work as molecular pumps to transport substrates across cellular membranes...   Read More  
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Murali Prakriya, PhD

Professor of Pharmacology

Ca2+ is a ubiquitous intracellular signaling messenger regulating a wide range of functions including enzyme activation, gene expression, and neurotransmitter release...   Read More  
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Indira Raman, PhD

Professor of Neurobiology

In the Raman lab, we study specializations of ion channels and synaptic physiology that permit cerebellar neurons—Purkinje neurons, granule cells, inhibitory interneurons, and output neurons of the cerebellar nuclei—to facilitate...   Read More  
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Gabriel Rocklin, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

We develop high-throughput methods for protein biophysics and protein design, with a focus on protein therapeutics...   Read More  
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Luis Rosas-Vidal, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

We study the neural dynamics of stress and aversive learning, how these processes are modulated by the opioid system, and how they interact with the pursuit of rewards...   Read More  
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Jason Sanchez, PhD

Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Dr. Sanchez’s laboratory investigates the development of time-coding mechanisms in the auditory brainstem using electrophysiological and anatomical approaches. His primary interests are in synaptic transmission and ion channel function...   Read More  
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Tiffany Schmidt, PhD

Associate Professor of Neurobiology

Our lab studies the role of light in behavior by linking the cellular function of cells within the retina to their downstream circuits in the brain and output behavior. To do this, we examine the role of RGC subtypes in specific visual functions...   Read More  
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Gregory Schwartz, PhD

Associate Professor of Ophthalmologyy

Research in our lab focuses on the circuit mechanisms underlying sensory computation. We use the mouse retina as a model system because it allows us to stimulate the circuit precisely with its natural input, patterns of light, and record its natural...   Read More  
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Geoff Swanson, PhD

Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Pharmacology

We study the molecular and physiological properties of receptor proteins that underlie excitatory synaptic transmission in the mammalian brain...   Read More  
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Matthew Tresch, PhD

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

We examine the neural control of movement, focusing on the role of spinal circuitry. We use an interdisciplinary approach in this research, using a combination of behavioral, biomechanical, and neurophysiological techniques...   Read More  
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Dileep Varma, PhD

Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Our lab is primarily focused on cell cycle, cell proliferation, and cancer. Within Neuroscience, we are interested in two broad areas. One of them is brain development...   Read More  

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