Neuroscience
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MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program in GSBSNEUROSCIENCE neurograd.org doctoral The MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate requirements School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) is a joint venture of Students must complete The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston the following requirements to obtain the degree of (UTHealth) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Doctor of Philosophy with Center that offers Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Neuroscience. a specialization in Neuroscience: Areas of research concentration include molecular, cellular, systems, cognitive, and translational neuroscience. There Research Rotations: First-year students obtain are more than 50 GSBS faculty members and more than hands-on research 25 graduate students representing sixteen departments of experience by participating in three research tutorials. UTHealth and MD Anderson currently in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Coursework: All students in Neuroscience are required to take two Program Core All Ph.D. students receive full financial support throughout Courses (Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, their training, which includes tuition, Systems Neuroscience) fees, stipend, and benefits. Annual and two advanced elective courses. Also required are competitive awards are available for the Ethical Dimensions outstanding research projects and of Biomedical Science, PROGRAM OVERVIEW Scientific Writing, and posters, and to support student travel Biostatistics for Life to scientific meetings. Scientists. Core Courses must be taken for credit and a grade of “B” or better must be earned. Transsynaptic labelling of dorsal raphe neurons (green) from crfr2+ serotonin neurons (red) Annual Retreat RESEARCH AREAS Candidacy Exam: To advance to candidacy, all students need to defend an NRSA-style proposal as part Our students have the opportunity to receive training and to conduct of a candidacy exam. This research in all areas of modern neuroscience. exam will take place by the end of the 2nd year. Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience Research in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience enables students to Dissertation Defense: understand neuronal function by integrating biochemical, physiological, Students defend their cellular, and molecular biological approaches. Areas of focus include: dissertation research in a intracellular signaling cascades, synaptic transmission, different forms of public presentation (followed synaptic plasticity which underlie learning and memory, and information by public discussion) and processing in neuronal circuits. an oral defense (in a closed Systems & Cognitive Neuroscience session with the student’s Research in Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience seeks to understand how Advisory Committee). networks of neurons or specific brain areas encode or decode information about the external world or internal states, and ultimately give rise to a wide To graduate with a PhD, variety of behaviors, including sensory perception, motor control, memory, students must have at least attention, and language. one first-author paper accepted in a peer-reviewed Theoretical & Computational Neuroscience journal. Research in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience focuses on the broad range of computational and analytical skills essential to understand the organization and function of complex neural systems. Translational & Clinical Neuroscience Research in Translational and Clinical Diasynou Fioravante, Ph.D. Neuroscience employs experimental models 2006 NGP graduate (Byrne Lab) in order to discover basic mechanisms, and Assistant Professor at UC Davis biomarkers, pathogenesis or treatments of nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer “Through solid class offerings, opportunities disease, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, stroke, or pain. for research distinctions and travel awards, In addition, more clinical research provides the Neuroscience program at UT-Houston the foundation for developing or directly provided me with a strong foundation for a testing novel therapeutic strategies for successful academic career.” humans with nervous system disorders. • Molecular and • Systems Cellular Neuroscience first year Neuroscience • The Ethical • Biostatistics for Dimensions of the FALL Life Scientists Biomedical Sciences SPRNG second year • Scientific Writing • Advanced Elective I • Advanced Elective II FALL SPRNG coursework Left: Receptive field map of neuron in monkey visual cortex. Middle: Processing of odor information in olfactory bulb glomeruli. Right: Retinal ganglion cells specialized to detect object motion in a particular direction. Jaroslaw Aronowski, Ph.D. • Neurology • Daniel Felleman, Ph.D. Neurobiology & Cameron Jeter, Ph.D. • Diagnostic and Neuropharmacology/models of ischemic Anatomy • Organization, function, and Biomedical Sciences • Identification of stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage plasticity of primate cerebral cortex molecules indicative of disease status, progression or outcome in patients with Tatiana Barichello, Ph.D. • Psychiatry & Gabriel Fries • Psychiatry & Behavioral traumatic brain injury Behavioral Sciences • Neuroinfection, host Sciences • Epigenetic mechanisms of immune response, memory impairment, psychiatric disorders Nicholas Justice, Ph.D. • Institute of behavioral changes Molecular Medicine • Mechanisms of CRF Michael Galko, Ph.D. • Biochemistry & system perturbation in Alzheimer’s Disease Michael Beierlein, Ph.D. • Neurobiology Molecular Biology • Drosophila genetics, & Anatomy • Synaptic and local circuit molecular genetics of tissue repair, cell Balveen Kaur, Ph.D. • Neurosurgery • dynamics in the thalamocortical system migration, signaling and signal transduction, Brain tumors and their interactions pain sensitization with the extracellular matrix and tumor Mark Burish, Ph.D. • Neurosurgery • microenvironment Circadian & neurophysiologic aspects of Peter Grace • Symptom Research • headaches using patient tissue Neuroinflammatory mechanisms of Annemieke Kavelaars, Ph.D. • Symptom persistent pain Research CAO • Pathophysiology of cancer John Byrne, Ph.D. • Neurobiology & therapy-induced physiological/behavioral Anatomy • Neural and molecular bases of David Grosshans, M.D., Ph.D. • Radiation toxicity learning and memory Oncology • Cellular mechanisms of FACULTY RESEARCH FACULTY radiation induced cognitive decline Eunhee Kim • Neurosurgery • Genetic and Qi Lin Cao, M.D. • Neurosurgery • molecular mechanisms of stroke Transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) Ruth Heidelberger, M.D., Ph.D. • Neurobiology & Anatomy • Mechanisms of Scott Lane, Ph.D. • Psychiatry & Behavioral Robert Dantzer, Ph.D. • Symptom Biology neurotransmitter release Sciences • Substance Use Disorders, • Behavioral and psychopathological Antisocial Personality Disorder consequences of the effects of cancer Cobi Heijnen, Ph.D. • Symptom Research • therapy on the brain Mechanisms and therapeutic approaches of Fudong Liu, M.D. • Neurology • Innate cancer treatment-induced neurotoxicities immune responses to cerebral ischemia Pramod Dash, Ph.D. • Neurobiology & Anatomy • Mechanisms of memory Diane Hickson-Bick, Ph.D. • Pathology and Yin Liu, Ph.D. • Neurobiology & Anatomy • formation and memory dysfunction Laboratory Medicine • Cardiac metabolism Computational biology and bioInformatics in health and disease Joao De Quevedo, MD, Ph.D. • Psychiatry & Ying Liu, M.D., Ph.D. • Neurosurgery & Behavioral Sciences • Neurobiological basis Mohammad Hossain, Ph.D. • Neuro- Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative of psychiatric disorders Oncology • Improved treatments for Medicine/IMM • Genetic engineering of glioblastoma patients pluripotent stem cells, neural differentiation, Fabricio Do Monte, D.V.M., Ph.D • disease modeling of CNS Neurobiology & Anatomy • Neural Jian Hu, Ph.D. • Cancer Biology • Identification mechanisms of innate fear and reward and of target genes downstream of QKI that mediate Sadhan Majumder, Ph.D. • Genetics • their interactions the endolysosome-dependent degradation of Differentiation of neural stem/progenitor Frizzled and Notch1 cells into neuronal pathway Patrick Dougherty, Ph.D. • Anesthesiology & Pain Management • Neurobiology, Roger Janz, Ph.D. • Neurobiology & Chai An Mao Ph.D. • Ophthalmology and neurophysiology, and pharmacology of the Anatomy • Synaptic vesicle proteins as Visual Science • Combining mouse genetics, spinal dorsal horn regulators of neurotransmitter release anatomical studies, and behavioral and physiological analyses to study retinal Valentin Dragoi, Ph.D. • Neurobiology & Vasanthi Jayaraman, Ph.D. • Biochemistry ganglion cells Anatomy • Cortical mechanisms of visual & Molecular Biology • Regulation of the behavior structure of membrane proteins Monica Gireud, Ph.D. Russell Milton, Ph.D. student 2017 NGP graduate (Bean Lab) “The Neuroscience Program provides a uniquely “There’s so much that is unknown. collaborative environment that leads to impactful There are very few cures and often little and multifaceted research.” understanding of why diseases affect the brain. It’s fascinating. It’s exciting.” Sean Marelli • Neurology • Control of Laura Smith Callahan, Ph.D. • Neurosurgery Edgar Walters, Ph.D. • Integrative Biology cerebrovascular tone by endothelial cells • Development of advanced hybrid systems & Pharmacology • Nociceptor memory and for cartilage, spinal cord and brain tissue chronic pain David Marshak, Ph.D. • Neurobiology & engineering Anatomy • Structure and function of primate M. Neal Waxham, Ph.D. • Neurobiology & retinal neurons