Neuroscience

Elizabeth Hutchinson, PhD joined the University of Arizona department of biomedical engineering in 2019 as an assistant professor in the focus area of biomedical imaging. Her educational background and research interests span both imaging science and neuroscience with the goal of using advanced imaging approaches to develop and understand novel imaging markers of brain changes in neurologic disorders – particularly in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Her research combines human-similar pre-clinical models with cutting edge MRI methodology in order to advance translational neuroimaging tools for the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.

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.

Dr. Joceline Lega is a professor of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics (GIDP), and Public Health at the University of Arizona, and a member of the Bio 5 Institute. She was educated in France and graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1988. She holds a Licence (equivalent B.Sc.) and a Maîtrise (M.Sc.) in Physics, both from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (formerly Paris VI), as well as a postgraduate degree (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies) in Dynamical Systems and Turbulence, and a doctorate in Theoretical Physics from the University of Nice (1989). Prior to joining the University of Arizona in 1997, Dr. Lega was a full time scientist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Her research interests are in the modeling of nonlinear phenomena, with applications to physics, nonlinear optics, and biology. Her work combines mathematical modeling, mostly in terms of difference or differential equations, mathematical analysis of the models, and numerical simulations, each of these approaches building upon and informing the others. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals that specialize in nonlinear science, as well as in fluid dynamics, nonlinear optics, molecular and cellular biology, neuroscience, geosciences, and more recently, mosquito-borne diseases. Dr. Lega is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (UK) and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

My research has focused primarily on the cognitive and clinical neuroscience of aging and neurodegenerative disorders. Within this framework, my laboratory is particularly interested in integrating brain imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) techniques to 1) develop image-guided therapeutic TMS protocols and 2) explore TMS-derived and image-based biomarkers for early diagnosis and prediction of therapeutic outcomes for individuals with mild cognitive impairment as well as Parkinson’s disease. For past few years, I have been involved in a number of NIA-funded studies investigating brain function and its relation to cognitive performance. I am currently the Director of Brain Imaging and TMS Laboratory and teach undergraduate and graduate level courses in cognitive neuroscience, brain rehabilitation, and brain connectivity at the University of Arizona.

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. Trouard is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Imaging and a member of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute. His research involves the development and application of novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to understand human health and effectively treat disease. Dr. Trouard’s multidisciplinary work spans a range from basic studies of cell culture systems, to studies of preclinical animal models of disease, to clinical imaging in humans. Many aspects of this work are directed towards understanding and treatment of neurological disorders including Alzheimer's Disease, Niemann Pick Type C disease, Stroke and Cancer.

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