Neuroscience Faculty

Dr. Julio Ramirez, Behavioral Neuroscientist
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Dr. Ramirez's research interests include Alzheimer's Disease and the recovery of function after central nervous system injury, with an emphasis on determining the functional significance of hippocampal neuroplasticity. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology.

Dr. Mark Smith, Behavioral Pharmacologist
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Dr. Smith’s research interest focuses on the biochemical and behavioral effects of opioids, a class of drugs that are used extensively for both clinical and recreational purposes. By examining the effects of drugs in behavioral assays his lab is able to make inferences on how drugs of interest manipulate neuronal activity. Dr. Smith has recently begun examining the development of tolerance and cross tolerance to the effects of these drugs following their chronic administration. Data from these studies are challenging many long-held beliefs about the development of drug-related tolerance.

Dr. Barbara Lom, Developmental Neurobiologist
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Dr. Lom studies neurobiology in the vision system of the tadpole, specifically in the retinal ganglion cell, the only type of neuron that connects the eye to the brain. Her laboratory investigates how individual neurons wire themselves together into a precisely interconnected and functional nervous system. More specifically, the lab is interested in how growth factors direct axon extension and innervation, as well as the intracellular signaling mechanisms that translate external neurotrophic signals into specific cellular responses such as growth cone formation and the elaboration of axonal and dendritic arbors.

Dr. Ramirez's WebPage

Dr. Smith's WebPage

Dr. Lom's WebPage

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