Laboratories

Center for Injury Biomechanics, Materials and Medicine (CIBM3) 

Director
Namas Chandra

The center researches traumatic brain injury, material science, molecular dynamics, nanoscale composites, nanoscale composites, biomedical engineering, superplasticity, computational material science.

Neurodevelopment, Injury and Repair Laboratory

Principal Investigator
Bryan Pfister

Studies tissue engineering; developmental neural biology; axon growth; mechanisms of neural injuries; nervous system injury repair.

Center for Rehabilitation Robotics

Principal Investigator
Sergei Adamovich

This center is currently comprised of 8 projects applying robotics and virtual reality to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities.  

Neurovascular Inflammation and Neurodegeneration Laboratory

Principal Investigator
James Haorah

Examining the underlying molecular, biochemical, and cellular mechanisms of damage to the blood-brain barrier and neurovascular units during substance abuse, blast-wave brain injury or HIV infection.

STG Laboratory

Principal Investigators
Farzan Nadim, Jorge Golowasch, and Dirk Bucher

Uses both experimental and theoretical approaches to study the neurophysiology of a small central pattern generating circuit in lobsters and crabs, the stomatogastric ganglion (STG). 
 

Fluid Locomotion Laboratory

Principal Investigator
Brooke Flammang

Uses a multidisciplinary approach, integrating comparative anatomy and physiology, biomechanics, hydrodynamics, and biologically inspired robotic devices to investigate the ways in which organisms interact with their environment and drive the evolutionary selection of morphology and function.

Neuroethology Laboratory

Principal Investigator
Eric S. Fortune

Uses methodologies that cross levels of biological organization from the computational consequences of transmembrane molecules to the behavior of multispecies flocks.

Swarm Lab

Principal Investigator
Simon Garnier

An interdisciplinary research lab that studies the mechanisms underlying the coordination of large animal groups, such as ant colonies or human crowds, and their applications to complex problems such the organization of pedestrian traffic or the control of robotic swarms. 

Golowasch Lab

Principal Investigator
Jorge P. Golowasch

 The goal of this lab is to understand the mechanisms that allow the nervous system to be simultaneously plastic (and responsive to environmental and internal changes), and also to be stable. 

Haspel Lab

Principal Investigator
Gal Haspel

 Studies the neurobiology of locomotion in the nematode C. elegans. Our focus is at the levels from neuronal network to behavior and we have projects that address the connectivity, activity, and recovery from injury, of the locomotion network. 

Neural Engineering for Speech and Hearing (NESH) Laboratory

Director
Antje Ihlefeld

Examines how the brain processes sound through psychophysical, physiological and computational modeling experiments. 

Keck Center for Topological Dynamics

Director
Camelia Prodan

The Horax BioDatanamics Laboratory

Principal Investigator
Horacio G. Rotstein

Researching the understanding of the mechanisms of generation of neuronal rhythmic oscillations in various areas of the brain (e.g., hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, prefrontal cortex, striatum, olfactory bulb) and how this results from the cooperative activity of the dynamic and biophysical properties of the participating neurons, the synaptic connectivity, and the network topology. 

Neural Prosthetics Laboratory

Principal Investigator
Mesut Sahin

Primary research thrust in the NPL is to develop novel and translational neural prosthetic approaches to help restore function in disabilities resulting from an injury to the CNS, such as a spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, or stroke.

Soares Lab: Neuroecology of Unusual Animals

Principal Investigator
Daphne Soares

Research efforts are concentrated into a three-pronged approach that examines the evolution of circuitries, molecular mechanisms of behavior, and sensory novelty.

Zebrafish Neural Circuits and Behavior Lab

Principal Investigator
Dr. Kristen Severi

Larval zebrafish swim to move around their environment, find food, and escape from predators. We are interested in the circuits in the brain and spinal cord which control that locomotion.