Circuits and Systems
Understanding a system as complex as the nervous system requires insight into how neuronal circuits function to produce sensation, emotion, action and other complex behaviors. The UC Davis Neuroscience Consortium has a large number of faculty working at this level: 62 faculty members from 19 departments and 10 centers. These faculty utilize a wide range of model systems, including rodents, non-human primates and humans to make rapid advances in this field.
Faculty studying circuits and systems
| David G. Amaral, Ph.D. | Systems neuroscience and studies of Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| Karen L. Bales, Ph.D. | Behavioral neuroscience of social bonds |
| Melissa D. Bauman, Ph.D. | Behavioral neuroscience, prenatal risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders |
| Robert F. Berman, Ph.D. | Neurodevelopmental disorder, TBI, neurotoxicology |
| Eliza Bliss-Moreau, Ph.D. | Affective neuroscience |
| Laura Borodinsky, Ph.D. | Cellular and molecular mechanisms of extrinsic and intrinsic cues on development and regeneration |
| Ken Britten, Ph.D. | Cortical contributions to visual perception and visually guided action |
| Amy R. Brooks-Kayal, M.D., F.A.A.N., F.A.N.A., F.A.E.S. | Pediatric epilepsy |
| Earl Carstens, Ph.D. | Functional organization of itch, pain and chemesthesis sensory systems |
| Rishidev Chaudhuri, Ph.D. | Computational neuroscience and neural data analysis |
| Xiaomo Chen, Ph.D. | Cognitive control and attention |
| Stacey A. Combes, Ph.D. | Physiology, morphology and behavioral contributions to flight behaviors |
| Daniel L. Cox, Ph.D. | Modeling neuronal sensing/navigation circuits and impacts from neurodegenerative damage. |
| Jacqueline Crawley, Ph.D. | Behavioral neuroscience and neurodevelopmental disorders |
| Robert Cudmore, Ph.D. | Effects of experience, disease and aging on the structure and function of the brain |
| William DeBello, Ph.D. | Adaptive plasticity and brain wiring |
| Wenbin Deng, Ph.D. | Molecular mechanisms of neuronal and glial cell death, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine |
| Jochen Ditterich, Ph.D. | Neural mechanisms of decision-making; new technology for neuroscience and translational applications |
| Diasynou Fioravante, Ph.D. | Neural circuits for prediction, learning and memory |
| Andrew S.Fox, Ph.D. | Neurobiology of “affective style” |
| Patrick M. Fuller, Ph.D. | Brain substrates of behavioral state control |
| Mark Goldman, Ph.D. | Computational neuroscience |
| Theanne N. Griffith, Ph.D. | Mechansism of encoding of thermal sensations |
| Gene Gurkoff, Ph.D. | Developing therapies to improve neural connectivity for patients with neurological disease |
| Tom Hahn, Ph.D. | Interfaces of behavior, endocrine and neuroendocrine physiology, ecology, and evolution |
| Tim Hanks, Ph.D. | Neural mechanisms of decision making and related disorders of brain function |
| Johannes Hell, Ph.D. | Molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurotransmission at synapses in the brain |
| Petr Janata, Ph.D. | Cognitive neuroscience of music |
| Wilsaan M. Joiner, Ph.D. | Sensorimotor integration, motor learning/control, and clinical applications. |
| Marc Kaufman, Ph.D. | Neural control of cardiovascular and respiratory systems during exercise |
| Christina Kim, Ph.D. | Molecular and optical technologies to study the neural circuits regulating motivation |
| Zhaodan Kong, PhD | Robotics, human-autonomy teaming, control theory, machine learning, neuroengineering |
| Leah Krubitzer, Ph.D. | Cortical evolution and development |
| Tim Lewis, Ph.D. | Mechanisms underlying neuronal network dynamics |
| Verónica Martínez Cerdeño, Ph.D. | Anatomy and pathology of autism and related conditions |
| A. Kimberley McAllister, Ph.D. | Synapse formation and plasticity; neuroimmune contributions to development and disease |
| Lee M. Miller, Ph.D. | Auditory neuroscience and speech recognition |
| John H. Morrison, Ph.D. | Neurobiology of aging and neurodegenerative disorders; cortical structure and function |
| Karen Moxon, Ph.D. | Neural encoding and plasticity, neuroprosthetics, neuroengineering, brain-machine interfaces |
| Gabby Nevitt, Ph.D. | Sensory ecology; olfaction; organism/environment interactions; conservation and enrichment |
| David E. Olson, Ph.D. | Compound-induced neural plasticity and the development of neurotherapeutics |
| Carolynn Patten, Ph.D., P.T., F.A.P.T.A. | Neural basis of human movement; investigating human motor control and learning from a perspective of neuromechanics |
| Charan Ranganath, Ph.D. | Neural Basis and Functional Organization of Human Learning and Memory |
| Helen Raybould, Ph.D. | Neural innervation of the gastrointestinal tract; gut microbiota |
| Gregg Recanzone, Ph.D. | role of the cerebral cortex in the perception of auditory signals and age-related hearing loss |
| Michael A. Rogawski, M.D., Ph.D. | Cellular and synaptic neurophysiology; neurosteroids; epilepsy and migraine; drug development. |
| Karen Ryan, Ph.D. | Neuroendocrine mechanisms by which environmental signals influence systemic metabolism; stress-related and metabolic disease |
| Jonathon Schofield, Ph.D. | Assistive robotics, rehabilitation engineering, neural-integrated prosthetic limbs, cognition and perception, clinical translation |
| Cynthia M.Schumann, Ph.D. | Cellular and molecular developmental trajectory of brain regions related to anxiety and autism |
| Kia Shahlaie, M.D., Ph.D. | Deep brain stimulation techniques to improve learning and memory function; traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease |
| Frank R. Sharp, M.D. | Gene expression of blood in patients with stroke, Alzheimers, autism and Tourette syndrome |
| Scott Simon, Ph.D. | Biomechanics of cells and tissues, neutrophil biology, vascular engineering, fluorescence flow cytometry |
| Vivek Srinivasan, Ph.D. | Biomedical optics, neuroimaging, vision, photonics, microscopy |
| Sergey Stavisky, Ph.D. | Brain-computer interfaces for restoring speech and reach and grasp |
| Danielle S. Stolzenberg, Ph.D. | Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms inexperience-dependent changes in caregiving behavior |
| Mitchell Sutter, Ph.D. | Neural mechanisms of sound perception and modulation by attention, decisions, actions |
| Johnna Swartz, Ph.D. | Brain development and the development of mood and anxiety disorders |
| Brian Trainor, Ph.D. | Effects of stress on the brain and behavior; mood and anxiety disorders |
| W. Martin Usrey, Ph.D. | Neural circuit activity, behavior and perception underlrying vision |
| Jennifer L. Whistler, Ph.D. | Effects of clinically important drugs and drugs of abuse on the brain |
| Brian Wiltgen, Ph.D. | Neurobiology of learning and memory |
| Weijian Yang, Ph.D. | Optical methods in brain research; functional organization and plasticity of neural circuits |
| Andrew Yonelinas, Ph.D. | Memory, Perception and Amnesia |