My major research interest is the neurobiological regulation of reward-related memory systems in the brain and the role of these systems in drug addiction. My laboratory approaches this broad topic at diverse levels of analysis that integrate molecular, genetic, and epigenetic tools with techniques that probe the function of single neurons and entire neuronal circuits. My ultimate goal is to understand epigenetic regulation in normal and disease states, and to use tools that manipulate the epige...
Dr. Cristin Gavin received her bachelor’s degrees (B.S. Biology, B.A. Philosophy) from Birmingham-Southern College. She received her Doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, while training remotely at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, FL. Her research interests have focused on understanding the synaptic mechanisms that mediate structural and functional changes during experience-dependent plasticity, and how these processes can contribute to cognition, as w...
Powell earned both his Ph.D. in Neuroscience and M.D. with Honor at Baylor College of Medicine in 1994 and 1997 respectively. His graduate work was among the first to measure lasting biochemical changes during long-lasting synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. After his medical internship year at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Powell trained at the University of California San Francisco Neurology Residency Program. In his final year, he was selected as Chief Resident at UCSF. From there, he r...
Lucas Pozzo-Miller completed his undergraduate studies in Biology (MS, 1986) and earned his graduate degree in Neurobiology from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina (PhD, 1989). He trained as postdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH, with Dr. Dennis Landis (1990-1992), and at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, Nutley NJ, with Dr. John Connor (1992-1995). He performed research at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole MA, with Dr. Rodolfo Llinás...
Anne Theibert received her Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1985. She is an Professor of Neurobiology, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology and Biophysics.
My long-term research goals are to uncover the molecular basis of complex neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric diseases and eventually create therapies. I have a broad background in biochemistry, molecular biology, and neurobiology. To gain a fundamental understanding of protein structure and function and the skills to engineer therapeutics, I joined David Baker’s protein modeling lab for my graduate studies (2006-2012). I fused computational and experimental approaches to redesign biomolecul...
My career has been devoted to understanding neural computation, both for its own sake and for the sake of making neural prosthesis that restore and augment human function. My specific research has been to investigate complex neural computations in retinal ganglion cells, the first locus in the visual system of highly specific and nonlinear analyses such as motion and directional selectivity.
The first task I took on as a retinal researcher was to identify, by intracellular recording and...
I am originally from Southern California, but my family moved a lot, so I lived in every part of the United States before heading to college. After gaining an English Literature degree, I had a variety of jobs — newspaper reporter, taxi driver, wild animal trainer.... Training lions for the movie business awakened my interest in biology, so I went back to school, eventually getting my Ph.D. in biology.
My early research was field-based. I have done field research in several parts of the...
Dr. Karlene Ball, University Professor and experimental psychologist, is the Director of the UAB Edward R. Roybal Center for Research on Applied Gerontology, funded by the National Institute on Aging, Associate Director of the university-wide Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging (formerly the Center for Aging), Associate Director of the Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education, Professor in the Department of Neurobiology, a Senior Scientist in the Vision Research Center, a ...
J. Edwin Blalock, Ph.D., joined the Department of Medicine as a Professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine and became the Scientific Director of the Lung Health Center in 2009. Dr. Blalock is a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Florida where he received both a B.S. and Ph.D. degree. He was previously a Professor in the UAB Department of Physiology and Biophysics, having been recruited to UAB in 1986 from the University of Texas Medical Branch, where he...
Victor Darley-Usmar received his Ph.D. at the University of Essex in England and then moved to the University of Oregon as a Post-Doctoral Fellow to pursue his interests in the structure and function of mitochondrial proteins in human disease. After a period as a lecturer in Japan and ten years as a Research Scientist in Burroughs Wellcome in London he joined UAB to establish his own research group in the Department of Pathology in 1995. He has received multiple awards for training and mentorin...
The overall goal of my research program is to investigate environmental modulation of circadian clock function in mammalian systems and the contribution of clock disruption to pathological disease. One of the most exciting discoveries that has emerged in recent years is that the circadian molecular clock regulates excitability in neurons that are spontaneously active in the absence of synaptic input. Although the intrinsic 24-h rhythm in membrane properties of neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucl...
Dr. Geldmacher graduated magna cum laude from the University of Rochester (New York) with his B.A. in Biology and Psychology. He obtained his M.D (with Certificate in Academic Research) from the State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse. He undertook his training in Neurology at Case Western Reserve University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at the University of Florida.
Dr. Keith (Tony) Jones received his Medical Degree from the University of Alabama (UA) School of Medicine in 1986. He completed an anesthesiology residency and postgraduate studies at Mayo Clinic, which included advanced training in Neuroanesthesia and a Postdoctoral NIH Research fellowship. Dr. Jones was a member of the faculty of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and practiced in the Department of Anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic for 15 year, and then served as the Alfred Habeeb Professor and C...
Dr. Kana has several years of experience in research in the field of autism spectrum disorders. After earning PhD from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, India, he completed his postdoctoral training at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2001 he was awarded the William Fulbright pre-doctoral research fellow to do research at University of California Los Angeles. He joined UAB in 2007.
Dr. Kana is the director of the Cognition, Brain and Autism Laboratory at UAB, and the co-directo...
Dr. Knight’s laboratory is focused on better understanding the neural substrates of human learning, memory, and emotion using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that include functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Behavioral and MRI studies from the lab investigate questions that are important for understanding healthy, as well as dysfunctional, emotion processes.
Recent work from the Knight lab has investigated the neural circuitry that ...
Dr. Korf is Wayne H. and Sara Crews Finley Chair in Medical Genetics, Professor and Chair of the Department of Genetics, Director of the Heflin Center for Genomic Sciences at UAB, and Co-Director of the UAB-HudsonAlpha Center for Genomic Medicine. He is a medical geneticist, pediatrician, and child neurologist, certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics (clinical genetics, clinical cytogenetics, clinical molecular genetics), American Board of Pediatrics, and American Board of Psychiatr...
Dr. Lori McMahon received her B.A., summa cum laude in Biology and Chemistry from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and her Ph.D. from Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. McMahon obtained postdoctoral training at Duke University Medical Center in the Department of Neurobiology and, in 1998, joined the faculty of UAB as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. She is currently the Jarman F. Lowder Professor of Neurosci...
Dr. Meador-Woodruff received his BS in Chemistry from the University of Richmond, and his MD from the Medical College of Virginia. He then moved to Ann Arbor, and completed a combined residency in psychiatry and a research fellowship at the University of Michigan. After completing his research training, he joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, where he held administrative positions including Associate Chair for ...
Dr. Nabors, originally from Columbus, Mississippi, obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Mississippi State University in 1985. He then obtained his Medical Doctorate from the University of Tennessee in 1991. Dr. Nabors was active in the United States Navy as a Flight Surgeon from 1992-95. Afterwards, he completed a Neuro-oncology fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2000 and is board certified with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
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Dr. Nicholas is originally from Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude in 1982 with a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Scranton. He then received his Ph.D. in Anatomy from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Galveston in 1987, and his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1990. After medical school, Dr. Nicholas spent two years completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Neuroscience with Dr. Tomas Hökfelt at the Karolinska Institute in S...
Dr. Roberson is a neurologist and neuroscientist whose research is focused on age-related neurodegenerative disorders. He received his A.B. with highest honors from Princeton University, then earned his Ph.D in neuroscience and M.D. with high honors at Baylor College of Medicine where he studied molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. He completed a residency in neurology at the University of California San Francisco, where he also served as Chief Resident in Neurology. After residency, he ...
Dr. Standaert was named the John N. Whitaker Professor & Chair of Neurology in 2012. Prior to that, he was appointed the John T. and Juanelle D. Strain Endowed Chair by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama system, which he held for five years. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in medicine and pharmacology in 1988. He completed a one-year internship in medicine at Jewish Hospital of St. Louis in 1989 and a three-year neurology residency i...
Christianne Strang is a board-certified art therapist with 25 years of clinical art therapy experience. She earned her MA in Art Therapy from Vermont College of Norwich University in 1987, and has served as treasurer for the American Art Therapy Association and for the Art Therapy Credentials Board. She served as the President-Elect of the American Art Therapy Association from July 2015-November 2017, and as President of the American Art Therapy Association through October 2019.
Dr. Str...
Dr. Sun's laboratory is exploring the genetic control of aging in mammals and vertebrates. We are studying the endocrine mechanisms and nutritional factors for their effects on longevity and aging.
The physiological role of the somatotropic axis in the control of aging in mammals and vertebrates
The dietary factors on aging and longevity: calorie restriction vs. methionine restriction
Interventions studies of age-related diseases such as Diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease
Elizabeth Sztul obtained a BS in Biology from Brooklyn College, CUNY, studying the ecology of marine arthropods and the renewing nature of the plant meristem. She initiated her graduate studies with a M.Sc. in Plant Physiology from University of Maryland, studying chloroplast biogenesis. She continued her graduate education in Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine, working on membrane trafficking pathways in the laboratory of Nobel Prize winner, Dr. George Palade, and was awarded a ...
Biographical Sketch
Laura Volpicelli-Daley earned her BA in Mathematics and English Literature at Franklin and Marshall College. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience at Emory University, where she performed her thesis project in the laboratory of Allan Levey, MD,PhD, Chairman of Neurology and director of the Center of Neurodegenerative Disease. Laura performed her postdoctoral fellowship in Cell Biology at Yale University, in the laboratory of Pietro De Camilli, MD, Howard Hughes Investigat...
Ray L. Watts, M.D., UAB's seventh president, has demonstrated visionary leadership in education, research and patient care throughout his career.
A Birmingham native and graduate of West End High School, Dr. Watts earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering at UAB in 1976. The collaborations he had with biomedical engineering students as an undergraduate sparked an interest in medicine and, four years later, he graduated from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis as valed...
My lab is looking for postdocs and/or graduate students.
