Center for Systems & Behavioral Neuroscience

The Center for Systems & Behavioral Neuroscience at Drexel’s Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy is dedicated to investigating the molecular, cellular, network, and behavioral mechanisms of sensory information processing, learning and memory, attention, emotion, locomotion, feeding, motivation and the neuropsychiatric disorders associated with these processes.

Members of the Center include a diverse group of neuroscientists who interrogate the neural mechanisms underlying behavior by employing an array of techniques to examine the processes by which the brain orchestrates behavior and how dysregulation of these processes leads to psychiatric disorders.

The collaborative nature of our members has led to extensive scientific interactions among faculty, students, and post-doctoral fellows within the Center, the Department, the University and beyond. Through an open exchange of ideas and knowledge, the Center aims to uncover the neural processes underlying adaptive and maladaptive behavior, which will pave the way for treating neurological and psychiatric disorders.

RESEARCH AREAS

Anxiety, stress, depression, PTSD
Autism
Binge eating
Executive function
Learning and memory
Locomotion and neural networks
Pain
Parkinson’s Disease
Social behavior
Schizophrenia
Sleep and arousal
Spinal cord injury
Substance abuse
Traumatic brain injury

METHODOLOGIES

DREADDs
Electrophysiology
Fiber Photometry
Gene, protein, & peptide assessment
Microendoscopy & calcium imaging
Molecular profiling
Neurochemistry
Optogenetics
Sophisticated behavioral assessment
Transgenic models

SHARED FACILITIES

Rat Behavioral Testing Rooms: 3 chamber test, 5-choice serial reaction, acoustic startle, activity chambers, conditioned place preference, elevated plus maze, forced swim, hole board, light-dark box, locomotor activity, Morris water maze, novel object recognition, open field, operant chambers, T-maze
Slice Electrophysiology
Fast Scan Cyclic Voltammetry
Fiber Photometry
Fluid Percussion Injury
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Mouse Behavioral Testing Rooms: 3 chamber test, attentional set shifting, conditioned place preference, cross maze, elevated plus maze, fear conditioning, home cage behavior, light-dark box, locomotor activity, novel object recognition, optogenetics, T-maze
Predator Odor Exposure
Quantitative Real-Time PCR
RNAScope
Sleep Physiology
Surgical set-ups