Major Research Areas

Disorders of the Nervous System

Our research builds on current strengths in three areas: Neurobiology of Behavioral Disorders; Disorders of the Visual System; and Neural Injury, Neurodegeneration and Repair.

We have basic and clinical researchers with expertise in the neurosciences, molecular genetics and epigenetics, behavioral science and brain imaging as they relate to several behavioral disorders. These include ADHD, schizophrenia, autism, VCFS and FASD. Significant research is dedicated to retinal development and function, as well as practical treatments for blinding diseases. Work in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, is growing.

Robert Barlow, Ph.D. Professor Neural basis of visual behavior; computational models of neural coding; circadian and metabolic modulation of human visual sensitivity.	Michael Meguid, M.D. Professor Neurophysiological regulation of food intake.
Edward Berry, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Biological energy transduction by membrane protein complexes, with emphasis on oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthesis.	Frank Middleton, Ph.D. Associate Professor Molecular basis of cortical-basal ganglia and cortical-cerebellar circuit formation and dysfunction in neurological and psychiatric disease.
Blair Calancie, Ph.D. Professor CNS plasticity after trauma; intraoiperative electrophysiology.	Michael Miller, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Factors that regulate the proliferation, migration, and survival/death of neurons in the developing brain; models of fetal alcohol syndrome, autism, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Peter Calvert, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Molecular mechanisms of protein transport and localization in retinal neurons; mechanisms of retinal degenerative diseases	Sandra Mooney, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Cell death and survival in the developing brain; Mechanisms of ethanol toxicity; models of fetal alcohol syndrome and autism.
Gregory Canute, M.D. Associate Professor Genetics and Gene Therapy of Brain Tumors	Brad Motter, Ph.D. Associate Professor Visual Neurophysiology; Visual Attention; Visual Search Behavior
Xin Jie Chen, Ph.D. Associate Professor Mitochondrial biogenesis and inheritance, aging and aging-related degenerative diseases.	Nancy Nussmeier, M.D. Professor and Chair Stroke after cardiac surgery, cerebral protection during cardiac surgery, gender-related surgical outcomes
Russell Durkovic, Ph.D. Professor Examination of processes underlying recovery from spinal cord injury in the salamander.	Eric Olson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.
Stephen Glatt, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics	Francesca Pignoni, Ph.D. Associate Professor Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Genetic Pathways in RPE Formation; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila
Charles Hodge, M.D. Professor Mechanisms of cortical plasticity and cortical reorganization after injury.	Dawn Post, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Cancer treatment using oncolytic viruses and gene therapy
Brian Howell, Ph.D. Assistant Professor The signal transduction events that regulate the functional organization of neurons in the brain, and the phenotypes caused by defects in the genes that encode these signaling molecules.	Dennis Stelzner, Ph.D. Professor CNS regeneration, spinal cord injury research, and neural plasticity.
Huaiyu Hu, Ph.D. Associate Professor Molecular studies of brain malformations.	Daniel Tso, Ph.D. Associate Professor Neuronal mechanisms of visual perception, studied through physiological, anatomical and functional imaging techniques.
Ziwei Huang, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Discovery and mechanism of action of new pharmacological agents for cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, infectious disease, and stem cell-based regenerative medicine.	Mary Lou Vallano, Ph.D. Professor Neuronal survival and development.
Burk Jubelt, M.D. Professor CNS acute and chronic polio- and entero-virus infections.	Richard Veenstra, Ph.D. Professor Regulation of connexin-specific-gap-junctions; gap junction channel biophysics.
Patricia Kane, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Vacuolar H+ATPases (structure, function, assembly and regulation), cellular pH homeostasis, cellular stress responses, protein sorting, genomics, yeast as a model system	Andrea Viczian, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.
Wendy Kates, Ph.D. Professor Anatomic and functional imaging investigations of neurodevelopment in individuals with genetic or psychiatric disorders	Brent Vogt, Ph.D. Professor Structure, functions, and pathologies of cingulate cortex.
Barry Knox, Ph.D. Professor Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins	Stephan Wilkens, Ph.D. Associate Professor Structure and Mechanism of Membrane Bound Transport Proteins
Michael Lyon, Ph.D. Associate Professor Age-related changes in the laryngeal muscles and vocal folds.	Richard JH Wojcikiewicz, Ph.D. Professor Intracellular signaling via InsP3 receptors and the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway.
Paul Massa, Ph.D. Professor Regulation of cytokine-induced gene expression in oligodendrodcytes. Regulation of innate immune responses in glial cells. Unique control of NF-kappaB activation in neurons.	Steven Youngentob, Ph.D. Professor In utero ethanol exposure and chemsensory systems plasticity, olfactory signal transduction, peripheral and central mechanisms of odorant quality coding.
Russell Matthews, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Role of glycoproteins in oncogenesis and brain development	Michael Zuber, Ph.D. Assistant Professor The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.
James McCasland, Ph.D. Professor Cortical plasticity, development of somatotopic representations in cortex

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Complete Faculty List

Steven Goodman, PhD, Dean,
College of Graduate Studies,
Vice President for Research

SUNY Upstate Medical University has a strong base of scientific researchers and a relevant clinical setting which provides students with an excellent environment to learn and grow. More>

Steven L. Youngentob, PhD, Associate Dean,
College of Graduate Studies
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