Pharmacology & Neuroscience
The Pharmacology & Neuroscience Concentration located on the SIU School of Medicine campus in Springfield, offers advanced coursework and an intensive research experience leading to a PhD or thesis MS degree for those seeking careers in academia, industry, government and/or administration. A non-thesis (coursework only) MS degree option is also available to be completed principally online. Areas of research include sensory processing, motor processing, circadian biology, neurodevelopmental disorders, pain, epilepsy, cancer, muscle physiology, memory, and drug addiction. While training depends on chosen areas of research, there are opportunities to work with in vitro or in vivo model systems to apply state of the art anatomical, microscopy, behavioral, electrophysiological, and imaging techniques.
Contact:
Dr. Ben Richardson
Department of Pharmacology
Springfield, IL
| Research mentors | Research area |
|---|---|
| Aida Adlimoghaddam, PhD | Targeting mitochondrial dysfunction for treating Alzheimer’s disease. |
| Don Caspary, PhD | Investigates the impact of aging and tinnitus on the auditory structures of the brain. |
| Julio Copello, PhD | Intracellular calcium signaling in heart, muscle, and cancer cells. |
| Brandon Cox, PhD | Investigates hearing loss, balance disorders and regeneration. |
| Randolph Elble, PhD | Investigates mechanisms of oncogenesis and tumor suppression in breast and squamous cancers. |
| Carl Faingold, PhD | Epilepsy and prevention of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). |
| Erin Hascup, PhD | Neurological, neurochemical, and cognitive changes in aging, Alzheimer's disease, and related disorders. |
| Kevin Hascup, PhD | Alzheimer’s disease: early dementia detection, innovative interventions, and trailblazing treatments. |
| Guim Kwon, PhD (SIUE) | Glucose and insulin homeostasis, artificial pancreas system. |
| Jacob Nordman, PhD | The impact of childhood traumatic stress and aggressive experiences on brain circuitry, aiming to identify therapeutic targets. |
| Jeffrey Parrilla-Carrero, PhD | Mechanisms of substance use disorder and drug seeking behavior. |
| Ben Richardson, PhD | Sensorimotor neurocircuit function and disruption in neurodevelopmental disorders. |
| Joseph Schober, PhD (SIUE) | Cell motility, cell cytoskeleton, cancer cell biology and cell-hydrogel interaction. |
| Shelley Tischkau, PhD | Interactions between the circadian clock, diet and environmental contaminants in metabolic function, neuroinflammation and aging. |
| Ken Witt, PhD (SIUE) | CNS drug delivery, blood-brain barrier, somatostatin brain effects in aging and disease, develop therapeutics to treat Alzheimer's disease progression. |
| Teaching Faculty | |
| Amy Arai, PhD | |
| Louis Premkumar, PhD |