Drexel University College of Medicine

Peter Baas, Ph.D.
James Barrett, Ph.D. *
Mark Black, Ph.D.
Almut Branner, Ph.D. *
Brian D. Clark, Ph.D. *
Janet Clark, Ph.D.
Manuel Castro-Alamancos, Ph.D.
Timothy Cunningham, Ph.D.
Rodrigo Espana, Ph.D.
Itzhak Fischer, Ph.D.
Gianluca Gallo, Ph.D.
Wen-Jun Gao, Ph.D.
Simon Giszter, Ph.D.
Alessandro Graziano, Ph.D.
Corey Hart, Ph.D. *
Huijuan Hu, Ph.D.
John Houle, Ph.D.
Pooja Jain, Ph.D.
Michel Lemay, Ph.D.
Daniel Marenda, Ph.D.
Sergey Markin, Ph.D.*
 Yaroslav Molkov, Ph.D. *
Ole Mortensen, Ph.D.
Olimpia Meucci, M.D., Ph.D.
Karen Moxon, Ph.D.
Hazel Murphy, Ph.D. *
Marion Murray, Ph.D. *
Jeffrey Oristaglio, Ph.D.
Ramesh Raghupathi, Ph.D.
Robert Rogers, Ph.D.
Ilya A. Ryback, Ph.D.
Aleister Saunders, Ph.D.
Francis Sessler, Ph.D. *
Natalia Shevtsova, Ph.D. *
Jed Shumsky, Ph.D.
Elias Spiliotis, Ph.D.
Veronica Tom, Ph.D.
Jeffrey Twiss, M.D., Ph.D.
Barry D. Waterhouse, Ph.D.
Brian Wigdahl, Ph.D.

Program faculty include:
Timothy Cunningham, Ph.D.
Itzhak Fischer, Ph.D.
Simon Giszter, Ph.D.
Alessandro Graziano, Ph.D.
John Houle, Ph.D.
Michel Lemay, Ph.D.
Ramesh Raghupathi, Ph.D.
Jed Shumsky, Ph.D.
Veronica Tom, Ph.D.
Jeffrey Twiss, M.D., Ph.D.

Spinal Cord and Brain Injury

For more than 25 years, there has been a vibrant research program addressing the mechanisms of recovery from spinal cord injury supported by a program project grant from the NIH and other national and international agencies. Specific research interests of this group include studies of axonal regeneration, mechanisms of neuronal death, and identification of strategies that promote recovery of motor and sensory functions.

Pioneering studies have demonstrated that tissue and cellular transplants can stimulate axon growth, protect injured neurons from death and atrophy, and improve function. Transplantation strategies that are now being developed are focused on grafting neural and bone marrow stem cells that can be derived from patients to potentially replace damaged tissue. Physiological and bioengineering experiments are identifying the spinal and supraspinal mechanisms that support the recovered functions. Rehabilitative therapies are combined with both pharmacological and transplantation techniques to enhance activity-dependent mechanisms to further improve specific motor functions.

Other studies are ongoing that concentrate on traumatic brain injury focusing on how to minimize the expansion of acute damage and develop interventions that restore cognitive function. For translation of these findings, a diverse group of clinical and basic scientists are collaborating to develop effective approaches to the evaluation and treatment of patients with spinal or brain injury. This multidisciplinary collaborative group is supported by core facilities for surgery, histology, imaging, and behavior.

Program faculty include:
Peter Baas, Ph.D.
Mark Black, Ph.D.
Timothy Cunningham, Ph.D.
Itzhak Fischer, Ph.D.
Gianluca Gallo, Ph.D.
Pooja Jain, Ph.D.
Daniel Marenda, Ph.D.
Olimpia Meucci, M.D., Ph.D.
Ole Mortensen, Ph.D.
Ramesh Raghupathi, Ph.D.
Aleister Suanders, Ph.D.
Elias Spiliotis, Ph.D.
Veronica Tom, Ph.D.
Jeffrey Twiss, M.D., Ph.D.
Brian Wigdahl, Ph.D.

Cellular Neurosciences:

This research program seeks to understand the mechanisms that regulate the structure of the neuron and its differentiation, various aspects of signal transduction within the nervous system, and the cellular basis of neurological disorders. One area of interest is the neuronal cytoskeleton, which is critical for establishing the internal architecture of axons, dendrites, and growth cones. In particular, studies are underway to understand the mechanisms that establish distinct patterns of microtubule and actin organization within different regions of the neuron. Translational studies are aimed at understanding how cytoskeletal abnormalities contribute to diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's and traumatic brain injury. Another area of interest is the pathways by which axons navigate and form neuromuscular junctions and their correlation to diseases such as muscular dystrophy and several forms of congenital birth defects.

Other areas of study include the intracellular mechanisms that regulate neuronal survival following brain injury, regulation of synaptic transmission by nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors in development and mental disorders such as schizophrenia, the role of protein nitration in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease and traumatic brain injury, and, the effects of beta amyloid in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. The neuroimmunologists in this program are seeking to better understand the neuropathogenesis of immunological disorders such as HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Investigators are using a variety of contemporary biochemical, molecular, and computer-assisted imaging techniques to study cellular mechanisms in both in vitro and in vivo systems. This program is supported by state-of-the-art core facilities which include spectral confocal microscopy, electron microscopy, live-cell imaging, and optical tweezing.

Behavioral Neurobiology

The Systems and Behavioral Neurobiology group consists of faculty from a variety of disciplines whose fundamental goal is to understand the biological basis of behavior. Given the complexity of the brain's structure and function, a highly integrated strategy is required to make advances in basic and clinical behavioral neurosciences. Researchers in this multidisciplinary group employ an array of modern neurochemical, electrophysiological, neuroanatomical, computer modeling and behavioral assays to investigate primary mechanisms of normal brain function and their application to neurological and psychiatric disorders. Specific areas of interest include learning and memory, regulation of food intake, modulation of sensory signal processing, drug addiction, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, autism, and schizophrenia. There is a strong on-going collaboration among various investigators in the College of Medicine and other schools and colleges at Drexel.

Program faculty in the College of Medicine include:
Almut Branner, Ph.D. (Giszter group)
Simon Giszter, Ph.D.
Corey Hart, Ph.D. (Giszter group)
Michel Lemay, Ph.D.
Vitaliy Marchenko, Ph.D. (Rogers group)
Sergey Markin, Ph.D. (Rybak group)
Yaroslav Molkov, Ph.D. (Rybak group)
Karen Moxon, Ph.D.
Robert Rogers, Ph.D.
Ilya Rybak, Ph.D. 
Natalia Shevtsova, Ph.D.(Rybak group)
Barry D. Waterhouse, Ph.D.

Neuroengineering

Faculty at the College of Medicine and the School of Biomedical Engineering are emerging as leaders in this rapidly growing, highly interdisciplinary field. The unique strengths of this research group are the significant expertise in basic neurosciences and computational modeling and development of spinal motor prostheses, cortical motor/sensory prostheses, neurorobotics, and enhanced neuroimaging techniques. A component of this program combines novel neuroprosthetic techniques with intraspinal, basal ganglia and cortical prostheses, and therapeutic approaches to brain and spinal cord injury and rehabilitation. Use of caged molecules and photolytic methods are being actively developed for a range of applications. The neuroprosthetic approaches used are also relevant to studies involving deep brain stimulation. Neuroinformatic capabilities in this group are unique in that they combine traditional bioinformatic tools with neuroimaging methods that go beyond spatial data management and towards automated data collection. This approach is particularly important for design and analysis of complex brain maps. Similarly, the use of neurorobotics and brain-machine interfaces integrated with spinal cord injury models is one of the few in the country combining expertise in neural control of movement at the level of basic science and computational models of the spinal cord with robotics acting directly upon the skeleton. Motor acts are ultimately the way that animals and people act in the world and express their cognitive, perceptual and reflexive neural processes. Understanding the motor basis of behavior requires an attention to basic physics, biomechanics, muscle and nerve physiology, neural networks, control theory principles and optimal control ideas. In addition, investigators in this group are developing a program in neuropharmaceutical engineering, which uses a revolutionary method to identify how chemical states in the brain control behavior. This neuropharmaceutical approach has applications to Parkinson's disease, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, and sleep disorders.

Visit the Neuroengineering track.