Faculty






		Faculty Faculty participants in the Stanford Brain Research Institute. John R. Adler Development of minimally invasive tools for the treatment and resection of benign and malignant brain tumors. Gregory W. Albers New pharmacological approaches for stroke treatment and prevention; imaging methods for early identification of ischemic brain tissue. Richard W. Aldrich Regulation of membrane excitability; molecular basis of the gating of ion channels. Scott W. Atlas Functional MRI; diffusion MRI; advanced MRI applications for tissue characterization in disease states. Stephen Baccus Visual processing in neural circuits of the retina Bruce Baker Control of sexual differentiation, including behavior Ben A. Barres Development and function of glia. Denis A. Baylor Visual transduction. Helen M. Blau Molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling muscle differentiation and localization of mRNAs during neuromuscular development; gene therapy for neuronal damage. Anne Brunet Molecular basis of longevity. Role of the nervous system in the control of lifespan. Paul S. Buckmaster Hippocampus, epilepsy, hippocampal anatomy. Regina K. Casper Alterations in brain morphology and organization during starvation and anorexia nervosa. Pak H. Chan Molecular and cellular mechanisms of cell death in CNS injury and in neurodegeneration using transgenic and knockout strategies. Thomas R. Clandinin Molecular mechanisms of neuronal connection specificity. Linda C. Cork Motor neuron disease, aging, Alzheimer's disease. David R. Cox Human genetics; molecular genetic basis of human disease; human disease; human genome analysis. Corinna Darian-Smith Somatosensory and motor pathway organization in adult primates, hand function, systemic responses to focal injury affecting hand function. Karl Deisseroth Neural stem cells, neuroengineering, adaptive plasticity, electrophysiology, two-photon imaging, animal behavior, computational modeling, neuropsychiatry, developing noninvasive technologies for focal brain stimulation. Scott Delp Dynamics and control of normal and abnormal movement. William C. Dement Pharmacological, electrophysiological, chronobiological characteristics of sleep. John Desmond Cerebellar cognitive function; clinical and cognitive neuroscience applications of functional MRI and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Ricardo Dolmetsch Molecular mechanisms of calcium signalling in neurons and myocytes. Development of new technologies to investigate signaling cascades in neurons and to investigate the functions of neuronal circuits in the brain. Leslie J. Dorfman Clinical electrophysiology of the peripheral and central nervous system. Lawrence F. Eng Cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors in injured astocytes. Russell D. Fernald Social control of the nervous system and molecular basis of visual system development and function. Robert Fisher Basic mechanisms of the epilepsies, novel technologies for treating epilepsy, electrical brain stimulation, local drug delivery to brain, new antiepileptic drugs, epilepsy, driving and social limitations, non-epileptic seizures. Uta Francke Gene discovery for inherited disorders, human mutations and their functional consequences, Marfan syndrome, Williams syndrome, Rett syndrome, genomic imprinting, human and mouse gene mapping. Craig C. Garner Molecular mechanisms of vertebrate synapse formation and function. Rona Giffard Cellular and molecular basis for neuronal and astrocyte vulnerability to ischemic injury. William Gilly Physiology and cell biology of ion channels in nerve and muscle cells; neuromuscular systems, motor control and behavior in Cephalopod mollusks. Gary Glover Functional MRI acquisition and analysis, MR imaging physics Miriam Goodman Molecular mechanisms of mechanosensation and thermosensation, combining genetic analysis with in vivo whole-cell patch clamp recording, single cell PCR, quantitative behavioral analysis in C. elegans. Ian H. Gotlib Neural foundations of information-processing biases in affective disorders, psychophysiology of depression, depression in children and adolescents, intergenerational transmission of risk for psychopathology Sherril L. Green Motor neuron disease, cytoskeleton, aging. Kalanit Grill-Spector High level vision; neural correlates of visual perception; computational neuroscience; functional magnetic resonance imaging. James Gross Emotion and Cognition Griffith Harsh Molecular mechanisms of brain tumor development. Gene therapy of brain tumors. Clinical managment of brain tumors. H. Craig Heller Neurobiology of sleep; circadian rhythms; thermoregulation. Shaul Hestrin Synaptic organization of cortical circuits. Dikran S. Horoupian Neuropathology of neurodegenerative diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, CNS neoplasms nerve and muscle disease. Lynne C. Huffman Developmental plasticity in human infants; peripheral markers of CNS organization in infancy, e.g., cardiovascular reactivity and cry acoustics. John Huguenard Neuronal mechanisms of oscillatory activity in the thalamocortical system, especially in relation to cognition, sleep and epilepsy. In vitro neurophysiological and in silico computational approaches are used. Judy Illes Biomedical ethics, neuroimaging, medical imaging, neurosciences. Peter Karzmark Terence Ketter Brain imagining and pharmacological studies of emotion, mood, and temperament in healthy volunteers; mood disorders. Eric Knudsen Information processing and mechanisms of learning in the central auditory system. Brian Knutson Neural basis of emotional experience and expression in mammals, computational neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging. Brian Kobilka G protein coupled receptors. Ron Kopito Molecular and cell biology of ion channels and transporters Elliot Krane Neurobiology of pain in infants and children; other neurodevelopmental problems Barton Lane Spinal cord and spine disease, degenerative and demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system, strokes and infarction, and chronic epilepsy syndromes Richard Lewis Calcium signaling by ion channels and cellular organelles; store-operated channels; calcium control of gene expression Bingwei Lu Neural stem cell biology and mechanisms of neurodegeneration. Liqun Luo Molecular mechanisms of neuronal morphogenesis. M. Bruce MacIver Action of CNS depressants in hippocampal and neocortical brain slices; whole cell patch clamp and field EEG recordings to compare anesthetic actions on synaptic currents and cortical circuit function. Sean C. Mackey Functional Neuroimaging of Pain Daniel V. Madison Synaptic plasticity and neurochemical modulation of neuronal excitability in the CNS. Merritt Maduke Molecular mechanisms of chloride channels studied by integration of structural and electrophysiological methods Robert Malenka Long-lasting changes in synaptic strength are important for the modification of neural circuits by experience. A major goal of my laboratory is to elucidate the molecular events that trigger various forms of synaptic plasticity and the modifications in synaptic proteins that are responsible for the changes in synaptic efficacy. Michael P. Marks Cerebral arteriovenous malformations; interventional, neuroradiology Mervyn Maze Molecular pharmacology, regulation, structure and uses of human alpha-2 adrenergic receptors for anesthesia and analgesia. Susan McConnell Developmental neurobiology; determination of neuronal fates in mammalian CNS; mechanism of axon guidance during development. Uel Jackson McMahan Cellular and molecular basis of synapse development and regeneration. Vinod Menon Theoretical and experimental systems neuroscience. Tobias Meyer Neuronal Signal Transduction. Emmanuel J. Mignot Molecular genetic, neurobiology and pharmacology of the sleep disorder narcolepsy. William C. Mobley Growth factors in development of the nervous system and developmental disorders. Daria Mochly-Rosen Mechanisms underlying the specificity of protein kinase C isozymes; protein kinase C in ischemia, stroke and other pathological scenarios. Tirin Moore Neural mechanisms of visual-motor integration and the neural basis of cognition (e.g. attention). Michael E. Moseley Diffusion and perfusion-weighted MRI; stroke. Greer M. Murphy Neuropathology of Alzheimer's Disease; prediction of clinical decline in Alzheimer's. Richard Myers Genetic, biochemical and cellular basis of inherited human diseases, particularly those that affect the nervous system Lorene Nelson Epidemiology of neurodegenerative disorders, and autoimmune disorders; epidemiologic methods quantifying gene-environment interaction and inter-observer agreement William Newsome Neural processes that mediate visual perception and visually guided behavior. Theo Palmer Norbert Pelc Adolf Pfefferbaum Genetic and environmental influences on brain structure and function in healthy aging, alcoholism, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia; MRI, fMRI, MRS, and DTI. David A. Prince Mechanisms of excitability of neurons in the mammalian cerebral cortex. Thomas Rando Cell death and cell survival in muscular dystrophies; regulation of cellular antioxidant defenses; mechanism of age-related muscle atrophy; gene therapy for muscular dystrophies. Jennifer Raymond Richard J. Reimer Molecular Biology of neurotransmitter release; lysosomal storage disorders Allan L. Reiss Brain development and function in children with neurogenetic, neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders; behavioral neurogenetics, structural and functional imaging. Nell Riley Lawrence Rinsky Neuromuscular scoliosis, developmental dislocation of the hip, and deformities in cerebral palsy Terence Sanger Movement disorders in children, computational neural networks, basal ganglia function and diseases. Robert Sapolsky Mechanisms of neuron death; role of stress hormones in neuron death; gene therapy strategies for protecting neurons following neurologic insults. Alan F. Schatzberg Psychoneuroendocrinology of mood disorders; brain imaging in hypercortisolemic states; and psychopharmacology. Mark J. Schnitzer In vivo imaging studies of cerebellar neural dynamics and classical conditioning. Fiber optic brain imaging technology. Matthew P. Scott Developmental biology and genetics of pattern formation. Functions of Hedgehog/Patched signaling in neural development and cancer. Homeobox genes and cell fate determination. Ramin Shahidi Design and implementation of advanced computerized surgical tools for improved minimally invasive resection of brain lesions. Krishna V. Shenoy Neural basis of sensorimotor integration and movement control. Neural prosthetic system design. Eric Shooter Biochemistry and molecular genetics of growth and differentiation of nerve cells. Lawrence M. Shuer Clinical research in congenital skull, spine and brain abnormalities; innovative methods to treat epilepsy surgically; noninvasive methods to insure ICP. Gerald D. Silverberg Alzheimer's disease and molecular biology of brain tumors and Parkinson's Disease. Stephen J. Smith Imaging of synapse development and structural dynamics; cell signaling in neural development and plasticity. Raymond Sobel Cellular immune reactions within theCNS, particularly as they occur in multiple sclerosis and in infections. David Spiegel Effects of hypnosis on perceptual processing studied using functional imaging (BEAM, PET, fMRI) Gary K. Steinberg Our laboratory is investigating the pathophysiology and therapeutic treatment of focal and global cerebral ischemia. Using various rodent models of stroke, we are examining the physiological and biochemical processes leading from decreased blood flow after arterial occlusion to irreversible brain injury, as well as the repair mechanisms for restoring function following such damage. A major focus of our work centers on oxidative stress and changes in gene expression after cerebral ischemia causing necrosis and apoptosis. Successful neuroprotective strategies currently being pursued include gene transfer techniques, the use of mild brain hypothermia and various pharmocological agents. Methods for enhancing neurogenesis and neurotransplantation of stem cells are utilized to repair injured brain after experimental stroke. Lawrence Steinman Genetic basis of autoimmune neural disease. Lubert Stryer Molecular mechanisms of sensory transduction; visual and olfaction. Edith Sullivan Patterns of sparing and impairment in brain function and structure, using quantitative neuropsychological and brain imaging techniques in patients with neuropsychiatric diseases. Darryl Thomander Neuropsychological test development and correlation with brain imaging evidence of cognitive dysfunction. Stuart Thompson Signal transduction mechanisms; biophysics of ion channels. Ravi J. Tolwani Understanding the in vivo role of neurotrophins on nervous system plasticity and regeneration. James R. Trudell Molecular models of anesthetic sites of action based on point mutations in GABA and glycine channels that specifically modulate sensitivity to anesthetics Victor Tse Molecular approach to the treatment of brain tumor and possible graft transplantation. Richard W. Tsien Molecular properties of ion channels in relation to function of nerve and muscle; calcium signaling and synaptic plasticity. Anthony Wagner Cognitive neuroscience of memory and cognitive control; functional organization of prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe; interactions between declarative, nondeclarative, and working memory; forms of cognitive control; functional MRI, magnetoencephalography, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Brian Wandell Human vision, computational neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging, digital imaging. Jeffrey Wine Regulation of ion channels by intracellular messengers. Tony Wyss-Coray Molecular basis of neurodegeneration Cellular responses to abnormal protein aggregation and cell death Yamnin Yang Midori A. Yenari Mechanisms of cerebral ischemic injury as it pertains to inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis. David C. Yeomans Investigations into differential modulation of pain of different sources; Development of novel analgesic approaches, including gene therapy for pain. Jerome A. Yesavage Alzheimer's and other cognitive disorders from an interdisciplinary perspective; dir. NIMH Center and VA MIRECC with dementia patients and subjects with cognitive decline with aging. Robert Zajonc Emotions and cognition Penelope Zeifert