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Department of Pharmacology & Physiology Faculty

The following faculty are currently not accepting students for thesis research projects: Drs. Horwitz, Mathiasen, McGonigle, Rosenberg, Simansky, Weiss and White.

  • Seena Ajit, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of neuropathic and inflammatory pain, epigenetic regulation, microRNA expression and regulation, biomarkers

  • Jacqueline Barker, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Addiction, learning and memory, behavioral neuroscience, habits, compulsivity, sex differences, drug and alcohol exposure, substance and alcohol use disorders

  • Linda Console-Bram, PhD, MS

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Endogenous cannabinoid and putative cannabinoid receptors in substance use disorders, pain, anxiety and immune function.

  • Alessandro Fatatis, MD, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating metastatic potential of solid tumors, studies in vitro and in animal models of neoplastic disease

  • Peter Gaskill, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: HIV, drug abuse, neuroimmunity, neurotransmission, macrophage immunology, dopamine, serotonin, catecholamines

  • Edward Hartsough, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Mechanisms contributing to metastatic progression and susceptibility of cancers to targeted inhibitors

  • Joel Horwitz, PhD

    Professor; Course Director for Medical Pharmacology
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Nitric oxide signaling, pharmacology education

  • Elena Irollo, PhD

    Research Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and substance abuse

  • Joshua Jackson, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Astrocyte biology, neuro-glial interactions, neurovascular coupling, synaptic development, calcium signaling, mitochondrial dynamics, brain metabolism

  • Zachary Klase, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Molecular neuropathogenesis of HIV-1, epigenetic control of transcription and microRNA involvement in viral diseases

  • Joanne Mathiasen, PhD

    Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology; Co-director, Drug Discovery & Development Program
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: CNS drug discovery, behavioral pharmacology, neuropharmacology, pain and cognition

  • Paul McGonigle, PhD

    Professor; Co-director, Interdisciplinary & Career-Oriented Programs; Co-Director, Drug Discovery & Development Program
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: CNS drug discovery, receptor pharmacology, behavioral pharmacology, neuropharmacology

  • Olimpia Meucci, MD, PhD

    Professor & Chair
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and drug abuse, chemokine-based therapeutics, neuroprotective pathways in neuroinflammation

  • Andréia C.K. Mortensen, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Excitatory amino acid transporters, astrocytes, neurological disorders, excitotoxicity, allosteric modulation, stroke, epilepsy, neuropathic pain

  • Ole Mortensen, PhD

    Associate Professor; Director, Pharmacology & Physiology Graduate Program
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Neurotransmitter transporters, drug addiction and affective disorders

  • Gabriele Romano, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Cancer drug resistance; mouse models; immunology; genomics

  • Robert Rosenberg, PhD

    Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Cellular and molecular neurophysiology, electrophysiology, structures and function of ion channels

  • Jennifer Ross, PhD

    Research Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Stress; psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease; amyloid beta peptide production and release; dense core vesicles; noradrenergic influence on large-scale network dynamics

  • Antonio Sanz-Clemente, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Synaptic protein content, glutamate receptors, synaptic/extrasynaptic NMDA receptor balance, excitotoxicity, excitatory neurotransmission, synaptic maturation, autism spectrum disorder, post-translational modifications

  • Priscila Sato, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of cardiac metabolism; cardiovascular function; GPCR-signaling in the heart-pancreas axis; in vivo animal models of diabetes and cardiac diseases

  • Kenny Simansky, PhD

    Professor of Pharmacology; Senior Vice Dean for Research
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Cellular mechanisms involved in regulation of eating

  • Elisabeth Van Bockstaele, PhD

    Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology; Chief Strategy Officer; Senior Vice President for Graduate and Online Education; Dean, Graduate College
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Role of monoaminergic systems in stress-related illness and substance abuse disorders

  • Rachel Van Duyne, PhD

    Research Assistant Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Molecular virology of HIV-1, host-virus interactions, epigenetics of latency, drugs of abuse, pathogenesis, transmission, antiretrovirals

  • Benjamin Weiss, PhD

    Professor Emeritus
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology

  • Michael White, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
     Research Interests: Ligand-gated ion channels; structure-function relationships; molecular modeling; ligand-receptor interactions
Elements of a laboratory experiment.