Welcome to the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Stony Brook University.

The Department of Neurobiology currently has 18 faculty with substantial research strengths in neural development, circuit function, computation, cellular communication through receptors, channels and synapses and neurological and psychiatric diseases. Total research grant funding for the primary faculty of $6.8 million dollars was received in FY 2008. Under the direction of Dr. Lorna Role, who arrived as Chair in April 2008, the department looks forward to continued growth, expansion and innovation. » more

Welcome to…

Postdoctoral Associate Hayk Petrosyan (Arvanian lab)

Postdoctoral Associate Thirumalini Vaithianathan (Matthews lab)

New Neuroscience grad students » more

Congratulations to...

Christina Johnson, an undergraduate researcher in David McKinnon's lab, on being awarded an NIH-funded Minority Access to Research Careers Award

Hong-Sheng Wang, a former graduate student in David McKinnon's laboratory, has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at the University of Cincinnati Medical School.

Mary Kritzer, on being chosen Top Reviewer in 2009 for exceptional contribution to the quality of Hormones and Behavior scientific journal

Priya Borker, an undergraduate researcher in Lonnie Wollmuth's lab, on being chosen URECA's "Researcher of the Month" (more)

Alfredo Fontanini, who was awarded the Ajinomoto Award for Young Investigators in Gustation. » more

Lorne Mendell. An international symposium was held honoring the scientific contributions Professor Lorne Mendell, Chair of the Department from 1988 to 2006 » more

Alfredo Fontanini, upon receiving a Klingenstein Fellowship Award

Dr. Sherrye Glaser who co-authored a paper appearing in PNAS. » more

Introducing...
department
chairperson, Dr. Lorna Role (PhD, Harvard). Dr. Role holds numerous grants and awards and comes to us from Columbia University.  Her research focuses on central cholinergic systems that have been implicated in disorders of memory, mood and motivation, and her work has implications for studies of schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer's dementia. Find out about the research interests and backgrounds of all Neurobiology & Behavior faculty here.

Lab Spotlight...
The Matthews lab studies the molecular basis of cellular signaling in the nervous system. Most of the work focuses on synaptic mechanisms and the encoding of visual signals in the retina. We are interested in understanding how the specialized ribbon synapses of the retina are able to release neurotransmitter rapidly yet continuously, which is required for transmission of the graded visual signals of photoreceptor cells and second-order bipolar neurons. We also study the functional implications of highly specific subcellular targeting of different subtypes of voltage-gated sodium channels in neurons, and especially how this differential targeting affects the encoding of graded visual signals into trains of action potentials in axons of the optic nerve. Finally, we are also exploring novel therapeutic strategies for retinal degenerative disorders that kill photoreceptor cells, including ways to cure the resulting blindness by expressing light-gated ion channels in the surviving retinal bipolar neurons.