Nervous system

Amelia Gallitano, M.D., Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Basic Medical Sciences and Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine (UACOM) – Phoenix. Dr. Gallitano received her medical degree, and Ph.D. in Neuroscience, from The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She completed residency training in Psychiatry at Columbia University, New York, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where she was a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry. She is a board-certified psychiatrist. Dr. Gallitano joined the UACOM - Phoenix as one of the founding faculty members in 2007, the year it opened to its first class of medical students. Research in her laboratory investigates how genes activated in the brain in response to stress may mediate the interaction between environment and genetic variations to influence the development of psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and mood disorders. In addition to their molecular studies, the Gallitano Lab has recently initiated a translational research program to develop a biologically-based diagnostic test for schizophrenia emanating from their basic science findings. Since starting her laboratory, Dr. Gallitano has received numerous grants and awards, including one of the first National Institute of Health (NIH) R01 grants awarded to an Assistant Professor in the department of Basic Medical Sciences (BMS). Her laboratory has maintained continuous NIH funding since 2012. She is currently an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of BMS and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the UACOM – Phoenix, and a member of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience. She is also a member of the Arizona State University Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience and an Adjunct Investigator at the Translational Genomics Research Institute. Her research focuses on investigating how immediate early genes may mediate the interaction of environmental stress and genetic predisposition to influence the development of psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia. Dr. Gallitano has published under the names: Gallitano, Gallitano-Mendel, and Mendel. Dr. Gallitano is also a co-founder and director of the UACOM-Phx Women in Medicine and Science Committee. She is committed to supporting the advancement of women and under-represented groups in the sciences and to mentoring trainees from all backgrounds who have a passion for neuroscience.

Fragile-X syndrome, which includes mental and physical defects and is the most common form of inherited mental retardation. Keywords: Neurodegeneration, ALS, Aging

Dr. Russell Witte, a native Tucsonan, received a BS degree with honors in physics from the University of Arizona in Tucson (1993). Following travel abroad in Europe and Brazil, he began graduate studies in bioengineering at Arizona State University. His doctoral thesis (PhD, 2002) used chronic microelectrode arrays to describe sensory coding and learning-induced plasticity in the mammalian brain. He then moved to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and, as a post doc in the Biomedical Ultrasonics Laboratory, developed novel hybrid imaging techniques that integrate ultrasound, light, and/or microwaves for medical applications. In 2007, Dr. Witte returned to Tucson and is now Associate Professor of Medical Imaging, Optical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona. Dr. Witte’s Experimental Ultrasound and Neural Imaging Laboratory (EUNIL) devises cutting-edge imaging technology, integrating light, ultrasound and microwaves to diagnose and treat diseases ranging from chronic tendon disorders (tendinopathies) and irregular cardiac rhythms (arrhythmias) to breast cancer. By integrating different forms of energy, special effects are created that enable ultrasound imaging of optical absorption deep in tissue (photoacoustic imaging), mapping current source densities in the beating heart (acoustoelectric imaging), and elasticity imaging of human muscle and tendon for quantifying tissue mechanical properties. Dr. Witte's research further extends into nanotechnology and smart contrast agents, which have applications to functional brain imaging, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Dr. Witte works closely with collaborators in the Colleges of Engineering, Optical Sciences and Medicine, as well as industry, to develop cutting-edge imaging technologies that potentially improve patient care. Dr. Witte is also a member of the Arizona Cancer Center, Sarver Heart Center and School of Mind, Brain, and Behavior, as well as the Neuroscience, Applied Mathematics, and Biomedical Engineering graduate interdisciplinary programs (GIDPs). Dr. Witte's vision is to develop a new generation of young investigators steeped in multiple disciplines branching from neuroscience, neural engineering, biochemistry, mathematics, biomedical imaging and, physics. He welcomes dreamers, brainstormers and problems solvers to join his team in search of the next great discovery in physics and medicine. Keywords: Biomedical Engineering/Medical Imaging

Dr. Jennifer Teske, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. Her primary research interest is the study of the metabolic consequences of environmental noise stress as it relates to the whole-organism stress response and human health.

I do neuroimaging, specifically fMRI and DTI. I am especially interested in brain networks and developments in neuroimaging software. We use independent component analysis to identify separate networks in the brain related to processing and learning language. My colleagues and I worked to improve fMRI analysis, display and data sharing options. Beginning with a web-based workbench designed for the dynamic exploration of map-based data, we worked to develop brain maps that could be similarly explored and demonstrated that this approach yielded results similar to those achieved by much more laborious and manual exploration techniques. This has improved our ability to streamline analyses, extract insights from our data and share data online. I have also worked on DWI analysis of the language system for the past 8 years. This has resulted in contributions to tract analyses (Wilson et al., 2011) and to the development of a novel technique (Patterson et al., 2015) to extract not only information about the properties of each tract but also information about the size and location of connected grey matter regions. We continue to explore the implications of these new measures. Keywords: fMRI, DWI, Language, Neuroimaging, MRI

My laboratory studies neurogenetic mechanisms which underlie normal and abnormal motor speech using the zebra finch songbird. My particular focus is to investigate molecular and cellular pathways altered by speech disorders associated with natural aging and neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease. To carry out these investigations, we use a combination of behavioral, genetic, biochemical and electrophysiological approaches that enable us to link changes at the molecular/cellular levels to alterations in neural circuits for birdsong/human speech. We also have collaborations with researchers working in mouse models to understand shared molecular pathway for vocal function. The end goal is to leverage the advantages offered by each species and an array of biological tools to further advance our understanding of how the brain controls vocalizations. Our laboratory website, including an updated publication list, can be found at: https://julieemiller.lab.arizona.edu/content/publications-abstracts

My research program is centered on investigating the neurobiology of healthy language system, and changes in cognitive and language processing associated with stroke and neurological disorders. My interests include incorporating cognitive measures and multimodal neuroimaging methods, with a goal to understand the relationship between language and other aspects of cognition, as well as the neural dynamics related to brain damage, resilience, and recovery. My research efforts are directed towards identifying factors which affect language comprehension and production, and how these change with development and are influenced by aging, stroke, brain injury, and neurodegenerative disorders, including Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). I study language processing at the multiple levels, using behavioral experiments and both structural (DTI, lesion-symptom mapping, voxel-based morphometry) and functional neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG, MEG). In addition, I am interested in neuroplasticity and application of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques (e.g., TMS, tDCS) to the treatment of aphasia and dementia. The long-term goal of my research is to understand the cognitive and neural processes that support recovery of cognitive and language functions after stroke. Keywords: stroke, aphasia, dementia, MRI, EEG, Language

Charles Higgins, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience with a dual appointment in Electrical Engineering at the University of Arizona where he is also leader of the Higgins Lab. Though he started his career as an electrical engineer, his fascination with the natural world has led him to study insect vision and visual processing, while also trying to meld together the worlds of robotics and biology. His research ranges from software simulations of brain circuits to interfacing live insect brains with robots, but his driving interest continues to be building truly intelligent machines.Dr. Higgins’ lab conducts research in areas that vary from computational neuroscience to biologically-inspired engineering. The unifying goal of all these projects is to understand the representations and computational architectures used by biological systems. These projects are conducted in close collaboration with neurobiology laboratories that perform anatomical, electrophysiological, and histological studies, mostly in insects.More than three years ago he captured news headlines when he and his lab team demonstrated a robot they built which was guided by the brain and eyes of a moth. The moth, immobilized inside a plastic tube, was mounted on a 6-inch-tall wheeled robot. When the moth moved its eyes to the right, the robot turned in that direction, proving brain-machine interaction. While the demonstration was effective, Charles soon went to work to overcome the difficulty the methodology presented in keeping the electrodes attached to the brain of the moth while the robot was in motion. This has led him to focus his work on another insect species.

The broad goal of research in our laboratory is to understand how inhibitory inputs influence neuronal signaling and sensory signal processing in the healthy and diabetic retina. Neurons in the brain receive inputs that are both excitatory, increasing neural activity, and inhibitory, decreasing neural activity. Inhibitory and excitatory inputs to neurons must be properly balanced and timed for correct neural signaling to occur. To study sensory inhibition we use the retina, a unique preparation which can be removed intact and can be activated physiologically, with light, in vitro. Thus using the retina as a model system, we can study how inhibitory synaptic physiology influences inhibition in visual processing. This intact system also allows us to determine the mechanisms of retinal damage in early diabetes. Keywords: neuroscience, diabetes, vision, electrophysiology, light

Thomas Davis, PhD, and his lab continue its long-term CNS biodistribution research program, funded by NIH since 1981, by studying the mechanisms involved in delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier to the C.N.S. during pathological disease states. Recently, Dr. Davis and his lab discovered specifica drug transporters which can be targeted to enhance delivery. They are also interested in studying the effect of hypoxia/aglycemia/inflammatory pain on endothelial cell permeability and structure at the blood-brain barrier. Dr. Davis has recently shown that short-term hypoxia/aglycemia leads to significant alterations in permeability which can be reversed by specific calcium channel antagonists. This work has significant consequences to the study of stroke. Additionally, he has discovered that peripheral pain has significant effects on BBB tight junction protein cytoarchitecture leading to variations in the delivery of analgesics to the CNS.