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Neuroscience Graduate Program - Faculty

Faculty

There are 24 full faculty in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. They come from 6 departments of Loyola and from Hines VA Hospital.

Areas of Research Strength

Expertise is present in a number of research areas, including:

  • neurodegenerative diseases and neurotoxity (Battaglia, Collins, Druse-Manteuffel, Jones, Lee, Neafsey, Piedras-Renteria)
  • neuroendocrinology and the autonomic nervous system (DonCarlos, McNulty, Neafsey, Pak, Scrogin, Simmons, Walter)
  • cellular electrophysiology (Cukierman, Konopka, Piedras-Renteria)
  • neurochemistry and neuropharmacology (Battaglia, Collins, DonCarlos, Druse-Manteuffel, Lee, Simmons)
  • neuroimmunology (Janusek, Jones, McNulty, Matthews, Stubbs, White)
  • CNS/PNS injury and repair (Castro, Jones, Kartje, Stubbs, White)
  • neuroplasticity and development (Castro, Jones, Kartje, Neafsey, Pak, Walter, White)
  • brain and behavior (Castro, DonCarlos, Gray, Kartje, Konopka, Neafsey, Pak)
  • circulatory shock (Scrogin)
  • application of non-linear dynamics mathematics to analysis of biological signals and biological information in general (Webber)
  • myelination and demyelinating diseases (Stubbs, Jones)

Methodologies in use include neuroanatomy, immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization, c-fos mapping of regional functional activity patterns, neurotransmitter receptor binding and autoradiography, steroid receptor autoradiography, HPLC, GC/MS, cell culture, confocal microscopy, evoked potentials, single unit recording, intracellular recording, voltage and patch clamping, behavioral analysis, uptake of radioactive neurotransmitters, electron microscopy, various immune system assays, iontophoresis, enzymatic analysis, DNA microarrays, and Northern, Southern, and Western blots.

This faculty is distinguished not only by its breadth of interests and research expertise but also by its commitment to graduate education. Advisors and Ph.D. Committee members interact with students and are committed to their growth and development. They are readily accessible, their doors are always open.

Faculty (* for Associate Faculty)

George Battaglia - Professor of Pharmacology Ph.D. in Pharmacology, University of Toronto, 1983 prenatal drug effects on postnatal serotonin and monoamine pathways; neurochemical effects of drugs of abuse and drug-induced neurotoxicity; receptor-effector regulatory responses to therapeutic drugs.

Anthony J. Castro -  Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy Ph.D. in Anatomy, University of Florida, 1970 plasticity of motor system pathways after brain or spinal cord damage in the newborn rat; use of fetal neocortical transplants in repair of brain damage.

Michael A. Collins -  Professor of Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry Ph.D. in Chemistry, Purdue, 1968 neurotoxicity of ethanol and beta-carbolines; ethanol neuroprotection.

Samuel Cukierman - Associate Professor of Physiology M.D., Ph.D in Physiology, Fed. Univ. of Rio de Janiero, 1982 biophysical properties and the physiological roles of ion channels; investigation of electrostatic potentials modulating the gating of nerve sodium channels; modulation of nerve sodium channels by different protein kinases and lipid metabolites; structure-function relationships of cerebellum IP3-activated calcium channels; potassium currents for cell proliferation.

Lydia L. DonCarlos - Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy Ph.D. in Neurobiology, Kent State University, 1985 neuroanatomy and neurochemistry of circuits involved in reproductive behavior and physiology; steroid receptor distribution and regulation; sexual differentiation of the brain; gonadal steroid effects on neural function neural control of reproductive behavior; estrogen and progesterone receptor localization.

Mary Druse (Manteuffel) -  Professor of Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry Ph.D. in Biochemistry, University of North Carolina, 1972 fetal alcohol effects on serotonergic and dopaminergic innervation of the cerebral cortex; aging and alcohol effect on the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal dopamine systems.

Linda Janusek - Professor, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing Ph.D. in Physiology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1978 psychneuroimmunology of stress in cancer.

Kathryn Jones - Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy Ph.D. in Anatomy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1983 molecular basis for neural survival and regeneration after injury; therapeutic role of steroid hormones in regeneration.

Gwendolyn Kartje - Hines VA--Neurology, Associate Professor of Neurology and of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy Ph.D. in Anatomy, Loyola University Chicago, 1984; M.D., Loyola University Chicago, 1988 plasticity of the nervous system, recovery from injury, neuronal transplants, neuronal growth factors and growth inhibiting factors such as Nogo-A.

John M. Lee - Professor of Pathology and Pharmacology Ph.D. (1983) in Physiology and Biophysics and M.D. (1988), University of Illinois Chicago clinicopathological correlations of neurodegenerative diseases; animal models of dementia and movement disorders; neurotransmitter receptor/effector coupling mechanisms in aging and Alzheimer's disease; gene expression profiles in Alzheimer's disease; Director of Loyola Brain Bank, Chair of Pathology

Susan McGuire - Assistant Professor of Pathology Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences, University of Missouri (Columbia), 1995 neural signaling pathways that, altered during aging, predispose and individual to age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD) or Alzheimer's disease (AD).

John A. McNulty - Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy Ph.D. in Biology, USC, 1976 comparative ultrastructure and biochemistry of the pineal gland as related to photoneuroendocrine transduction and secretion; neuroimmunology and the role of microglia; circadian and circannual rhythms.

Herb L. Matthews - Professor of Microbiology and Immunology Ph.D. in Microbiology, West Virginia University, 1977 stress and immunity; psychoneuroimmunology; breast and prostate cancer; natural killer cell function

Edward J. Neafsey - Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy Ph.D. in Anatomy, UCLA, 1976 Director, Neuroscience Graduate Program cerebral cortical and hippocampal control of cardiovascular responses to emotional stress; MPTP model of Parkinson's disease; electrophysiology of neuronal transplants; neurotoxicity of ethanol and HIV-gp120.

Toni Pak - Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of Colorado (Boulder), 2002 neuroendocrine regulation of puberty; molecular mechanisms of nuclear steroid receptor function

Erika Piedras-Renteria - Associate Professor of Physiology Ph.D. in Physiology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1996 molecular mechanisms of neuronal P/Q calcium channel function in normal and diseased states, especially spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6)

Karie Scrogin - Associate Professor of Pharmacology Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health Sciences University, 1992 role of central serotonin in reflex control of circulation after hemorrhage

William H. Simmons - Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Ph.D. in Physiology, University of Illinois, 1979 identification and purification of peptidases involved in neuropeptide metabolism in brain.

Evan Stubbs - Associate Professor of Neurology and Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Ph.D. in Biochemistry, University of Missouri, 1987 neurochemistry and immunology of polyneuropathies; phosphotidyl inositol second messenger signaling.

James S. Walter - Associate Professor of Urology Ph.D. in Physiology, University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School, 1982 bladder, bowel, and respiratory problems following spinal cord injury; neural prosthetics; diagnostic techniques for the autonomic nervous system.

Charles L. Webber, Jr. - Professor of Physiology Ph.D. in Physiology, Loyola University of Chicago, 1974 chaotic and nondeterministic dynamics of neural systems; integrated function of mammalian cardiopulmonary control systems.

Fletcher White - Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy Ph.D. in Anatomy, Medical College of Ohio, 1995 neuroanatomical plasticity in the spinal cord, particularly as related to pain transmission after peripheral nerve injury.