Levitt, Pat
The research projects are driven by a talented group of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, research staff and collaborating faculty. Our laboratory is unique in undertaking both basic and clinical research projects. Research projects investigate the development of brain architecture underlying emotional and social behavior and learning, the challenges that arise when neurodevelopment is derailed, and determining why brain and certain medical disorders often co-occur in children. The basic science projects are focused how genes and prenatal and early postnatal environments together influence typical and atypical development. The clinical research projects focus on understanding the impact of early experiences, positive (social connectedness) and negative (early life adversities - neglect/abuse) on healthy brain and child development and the impact on metabolic health.
Matho, Katherine
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
How do developmental and genetic programs build brain circuits for complex behavior? My lab investigates this question by integrating developmental neuroscience, molecular genetics, and multi-scale circuit mapping to study cortical sensorimotor circuits underlying goal-directed actions and perception. Using interdisciplinary approaches, such as gene knockin mouse lines and single cell profiling, we examine how neuronal identity and connectivity emerge during development. Our goal is to uncover the molecular and developmental logic of circuit assembly in neurotypical development and how the key building blocks that make up the circuits—cell types—are disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders. We hypothesize that a temporal patterning program during pregnancy specifies neuron subtype and wiring, shaping sensorimotor function in the mature brain.
Moore, Jeffrey
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Many mammals sense and affect their environment predominantly through innate motor programs for exploration, social interaction, and ingestion; yet, little is known about the neuronal circuits that control these motor programs. Our lab uses molecular, systems, and computational neurobiological techniques to identify specific brainstem motor control modules and to determine how higher-order brain structures engage these modules for innate behaviors.
Rissman, Robert
Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience
Dr. Rissman is Professor Physiology and Neuroscience and founding Director of the Neuroscience Translational Research Division (NTRD) of USC’s Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute in San Diego. Dr. Rissman’s basic science research goal is to identify and validate plasma biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (ADRD) to better understand mechanisms of neurodegeneration and to streamline clinical trials recruitment. Work from Dr. Rissman’s lab has led to the validation of plasma biomarkers that predict AD brain neuropathology and progression of dementia. Also, through analysis of plasma-derived extracellular vesicles, his group was the first to demonstrate that TDP-43 protein within astrocyte extracellular vesicles can identify Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE).
Schier, Lindsey
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
The Schier lab seeks to understand how the chemical constituents of foods and fluids are sensed, how these oral and postoral signals are processed in the brain and channeled into the behavioral outputs that subserve energy balance.
