The following NTP faculty have funding to support Ph.D. graduate students and are seeking NTP students to join their labs:
Behavioral, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience
| Name | Research Description | |
| Matthew Banks | Mibanks@wisc.edu | Neural mechanisms of loss, recovery, and altered states of consciousness. |
| Melisa Carrasco | carrascomccaul@neurology.wisc.edu | Research focuses on the long-term cognitive development of children, including healthy infants and those afflicted by a newborn brain injury. The research lab aims to identify imaging, neurophysiological, and behavioral biomarkers that will help predict executive dysfunction and cognitive disability in populations at risk. |
| Carrie Niziolek | cniziolek@wisc.edu | My research focuses on speech motor control: how the brain coordinates sensory and motor signals to achieve communicative goals. Our lab combines brain imaging during spoken language with the acoustic analysis of speech behavior. |
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
| Name | Research Description | |
| Alexander Birbrair | birbrair@wisc.edu | Nervous system control of cancer progression. |
| Katie Drerup | drerup@wisc.edu | Our lab uses zebrafish to study neuronal cell biology. We are interested in mitochondrial homeostasis, autophagy, and microtubule regulation, which are all essential for the formation and maintenance of neural circuits. |
| Mary Halloran | mchalloran@wisc.edu | Cell biology of cargo transport in neurons during development and disease. |
| Justin Wolter | wolter4@wisc.edu | We study the mechanisms by which genetic variation (common and rare) affect risk and resilience to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. |
Development, Plasticity, and Repair
| Name | Research Description | |
| Tim Gomez | tmgomez@wisc.edu | In the Gomez lab we seek to improve our understanding of the molecular basis of normal neural network formation during development and how defects in connectivity occur in ASDs, such as Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC). |
| Darcie Moore | darcie.moore@wisc.edu | Adult neural stem cell quiescence and quiescence exit. |
| Xinyu Zhao | xinyu.zhao@wisc.edu | Gene regulation of stem cells and development and implications in developmental disorders such as autism. |
Neurobiology of Disease
| Name | Research Description | |
| Tobey Betthauser | tbetthauser@wisc.edu | Our lab uses neuroimaging and fluid biomarkers to investigate the sequence and timing of Alzheimer’s disease pathologic and clinical events. We also perform antemortem-postmortem studies comparing imaging and fluid biomarkers acquired during life to pathological characterization of tissue after death. |
| Zachary Campbell | zcampbell@wisc.edu | Molecular neurobiology of pain. |
| Qiang Chang | qchang@waisman.wisc.edu | Use mouse models, nonhuman primary models, and human stem cell based models to study brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders. |
| Michelle Ciucci | ciucci@surgery.wisc.edu | The main projects center on noradrenergic mechanisms of vocalization/swallow/GI deficits in Parkinson disease using a translational approach (Pink1-/- rat model). We use behavior, histology, PCR, and microPET imaging to study how exercise and drugs might rescue these deficits. We are also interested in how pathology might spread from gut to central nervous system. |
| Ryan Herringa | herringa@wisc.edu | Using neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry, we are exploring brain-body mechanisms of vulnerability and resilience to childhood trauma. Modalities include behavioral assessment, neuroimaging, psychophysiology, machine learning, and others. |
| Mariana Pehar | mapehar@medicine.wisc.edu | Understanding the mechanisms linking aging to neurodegeneration. Role of glial cells in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease. |
| Marcelo Vargas | mvargas@wisc.edu | Biology of astrocytes, astrocyte-neuron interaction, neurodegeneration. |
Systems and Circuits
| Name | Research Description | |
| Xin Huang | Xin.Huang@wisc.edu | The research in my laboratory investigates the principles and neural mechanisms of visual processing, perceptual organization, attention, conscious perception, decision-making, visually guided eye movement control, and neural coding. |
| Meyer Jackson | mbjackso@wisc.edu | Synapses and circuits. |
| Ari Rosenberg | ari.rosenberg@wisc.edu | Neural computations underlying 3D vision, multisensory integration, and the neural basis of autism. |
| Raunak Sinha | raunak.sinha@wisc.edu | Cellular, synaptic and circuit function in the retina. Functional maturation of neurons and circuits during early stages of retina development in primates and human stem cell derived retinal organoids. |