We are a basic science department in the University of Illinois College of Medicine, the nation's largest medical school. Our department's research areas include neuroscience, neurodevelopment, neurodegeneration, blood brain barrier, synapses, demyelination, and sensory and motor systems. We offer a doctoral program for students in the Graduate Education in Medical Sciences (GEMS) program, the campus-wide interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience (GPN), and the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP).
Our lab is interested in understanding how nicotine dependence, and the behaviors associated with nicotine abuse, stem from and underlie the misregulation of expression and function of neuronal ion channels. Ion channels are transmembrane proteins found in all excitable cells that undergo conformational changes in response to their respective stimuli, causing temporary changes to membrane excitability to generate, modify or inhibit intra- or intercellular signaling events.