Text Box: Growth control in the nervous system is being studied using transgenic mice in which a tubulin promoter drives neuronal expression of b-galactosidase (Rick Murray, Calof lab)

Molecular Neurobiology Graduate Training Program

 

Training Grant Director:  Anne Calof, Professor and Chair, Developmental and Cell Biology

 


    The UCI Molecular Neurobiology Graduate Training Program is part of a large, multidisciplinary Graduate Program in Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry in the School of Biological Sciences.  The Molecular Neurobiology Training Program functions as a "track" within the larger program, sharing a common core curriculum and admissions process.  We believe that the most important advances in the field of Neurosciences will come from investigations at the molecular and cellular levels. Particular research interests of participating faculty and departments range throughout the neurosciences and include developmental neurobiology,  systems neuroscience, response to injury and mechanisms of regeneration, gene expression in the nervous system, growth factors, synaptic function, ion channels, signal transduction, and mechanisms of neurological disease; these broad ranging issues are being studied primarily through cellular and molecular approaches.

    The Molecular Neurobiology Graduate Training Program includes both formal coursework and intensive research laboratory experiences.  While emphasis of the program is on training neuroscientists to undertake fundamentally important original research, it is clear that Neuroscience is a rapidly evolving field that covers a huge data base of information.  An important step in graduate education is the acquisition of a broad base of knowledge, and the core curriculum blends in-depth study of both Molecular & Cellular Biology and the Neurosciences. Along with the formal coursework, students are actively engaged in laboratory research beginning the first week of graduate study.  Normally, students have three laboratory research rotation experiences before choosing the laboratory in which they intend to conduct their dissertation research.

Molecular Neurobiology Course Offerings:

  • Systems Neurobiology (Neuro 201)
  • Physiology of Ion Channels (PB 232)
  • Neurophysiology (Neuro 202)
  • Cellular, Molecular and Developmental Neurobiology (DC 231D)
  • Neurotransmitter & Drug Receptors (Pharm 252)
  • Chemical Transmission (Pharm 255)
  • Chemical Neuroanatomy (Pharm 210)

Molecular Neurobiology Faculty

Track coordinator  - Anne L. Calof, + 

Aileen J. Anderson, + Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Inflammation and immune response mechanisms in CNS injury; mechanisms of functional recovery after spinal cord injury
Dana W. Aswad, + Ph.D.,  Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
    Protein damage and repair in the brain

Kavita Arora, + Ph.D., Associate Professor of Developmental & Cell Biology

    Molecular mechanisms of activating signaling in Drosophila neural development and behavior
Tallie Z. Baram, + M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurology, and Pediatrics
    Excitotoxicity and epilepsy; neurobiology of stress; neuropeptide neuromodulation
Michael D. Cahalan, + Ph.D., Professor of Physiology & Biophysics.
    Ion channels in the nervous system
Anne L. Calof, + Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Developmental & Cell Biology
    Molecular mechanisms of neurogenesis, neuronal differentiation, and cell death; transgenic mice; neural stem cells in development and regeneration
Olivier Civelli, + Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Developmental & Cell Biology
    Molecular neurobiology, G protein-coupled receptors, peptide neurotransmitters
Michael Demetriou, + M.D./Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neurology and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
    Molecular biology and glycobiology of T cell dysfunction in autoimmune demyelinating disease
Mark J. Fisher, + M.D., Professor and Chair of Neurology, Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Cellular mechanisms underlying cause and prevention of strokes
Christine M. Gall, + Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Neurobiology & Behavior
    Neuroplasticity, chemical neuroanatomy, and neurotrophic factors
J. Jay Gargus, + M.D./Ph.D., Professor of Physiology & Biophysics and Pediatrics
    Genetic diseases of cell signaling
Charles G. Glabe, + Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
    Amyloid Ab peptide in Alzheimer's pathogenesis
Alan L. Goldin, + M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics and Physiology & Biophysics
    Diseases caused by ion channel defects; Molecular and cell biology of ion channels
James E. Hall, + Ph.D., Professor of Physiology & Biophysics
    Biophysics of ion channels
Todd Holmes, + Ph.D.

    Human neurodegenerative disease mechanisms in transgenic animals
Hans Keirstead, + Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Mechanisms of axon growth and recovery from injury
Leonard M. Kitzes, + Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Otolaryngology
    Auditory system neurobiology and development
Arthur D. Lander, + M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Developmental & Cell Biology and Pharmacology
    Mechanisms of growth factor action; extracellular matrix; developmental neurobiology
Thomas E. Lane, + Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
    Cellular and molecular mechanisms contributing to viral-induced neurologic disease

Leonid Lerner, + M.D./Ph.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Molecular Biology
    Pathogenesis and therapeutic strategies for management of degenerative and age related diseases affecting vision
Frances M. Leslie, + Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Pharmacology of drugs of abuse

Ronald L. Meyer, + Ph.D., Professor of Developmental & Cell Biology
    Development of nerve connections, nerve injury and regeneration
Edwin S. Monuki, + M.D./Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology
    Cerebral cortex development and disease
Diane K. O'Dowd, + Ph.D., Professor of Developmental & Cell Biology and Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Electrical excitability and synaptic connectivity during development
Rainer K. Reinscheid, + Ph.D.

    Molecular neuropharmacology, physiology and function of neuropeptides in sleep and stress

Charles E. Ribak, + Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Neuroplastic changes and neural circuits in epileptic brains
Richard T. Robertson, + Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Mechanisms of afferent target selection in developing cortex.
Maike Sander, + M.D., Assistant Professor of Developmental & Cell Biology
    Transcriptional control of CNS and pancreas development in mice
Tom Schilling, + Associate Professor of Developmental & Cell Biology
    Skeletal and neural patterning; mutational analysis and molecular genetics in the zebrafish

Steven Schreiber, + Assistant Professor of Neurology

    Molecular mechanisms of selective neuronal degeneration and repair in the central nervous system
Martin A. Smith, + Ph.D., Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Synaptogenesis: regulation of gene expression and RNA splicing
Ivan Soltesz, + Ph.D.,  Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Physiology & Biophysics
    Function and modulation of synaptic GABAA receptor
Oswald Steward, + Ph.D., Reeve-Irvine Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Neurobiology & Behavior
    Genes that affect cellular responses to CNS injury
Andrea J. Tenner, + Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry.
    Role of complement and inflammation in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases
Leslie M. Thompson, + Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Biological Chemistry
    Molecular and biochemical mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and therapeutic approaches to human neurodegenerative disease
Rahul Warrior, + Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Developmental & Cell Biology
    Function of the Lisssencephaly gene in neuronal migration and nuclear movement in Drosophila
John H. Weiss, + M.D., Ph.D.,  Professor of Neurology, Anatomy & Neurobiology, and Neurobiology & Behavior
    Mechanisms of neurodegeneration in vitro
Fan-Gang Zeng, + Ph.D., Professor of Otolaryngology and Anatomy & Neurobiology
    Auditory processing; speech perception; neural prostheses

Return to MBGB Home Page