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Kara G. Pratt

Director of Neuroscience Program and Associate Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

I am interested in the functional development of neural circuits and how sensory input regulates this process. It has been well established that external sensory stimuli is necessary for proper circuit development and refinement, but the intracellular mechanism(s) underlying this type of plasticity are not understood.

Read more: Visit website  |  Email: kpratt4@uwyo.edu

Jonathan Fox

 Professor, Department of Veterinary Science

We study molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration particularly in the context of Huntington’s disease (HD). We work primarily with genetic mouse models of HD. We use a variety of approaches to elucidate disease mechanisms including anatomic studies.

Read more: Visit Website  |  Email: Jfox7@uwyo.edu 

Alexander French

Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy

The Alex French Lab investigates how alcohol and psychedelics alter the brain in order to understand how psychedelics might be repurposed into novel treatments for alcohol use disorder. We integrate information from a wide range of techniques, from protein engineering and drug screening at the molecular level, to electrophysiology at the cell and tissue levels, to whole-animal behavior at the organismal level. Understanding psychedelics’ neuropharmacology at these different scales puts us in a strong position to support the development of novel treatments for addiction.

Website: https://www.frenchlab.org/  |  Email: afrench9@uwyo.edu

Yun Li

Assistant Professor of Zoology and Physiology

I am interested in understanding the biological basis of behavior. I believe that the pattern of neural activity contains some version of information, since all sensory signals are converted into neural activity, and the contents of our thoughts, emotions and knowledge are all carried by neural activity.

Read more: Visit website  |  Email: yli30@uwyo.edu

Meredith Minear

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology

My research interests are focused around spatial cognition and individual differences in executive function, memory and working memory. One focus of my lab examines the plasticity of cognitive processes i.e. how our environment and experiences can affect cognitive performance. For example, how can targeted training using both physical and virtual media (such as augmented reality), change how we represent and process information? In my lab, we measure both electrophysiological data (EEG & ERPs) as well as behavioral performance in immersive virtual reality environments.

Read more: Visit website  |  Email: mminear2@uwyo.edu

Sreejayan Nair

Professor, School of Pharmacy

My laboratory is interested in studying insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1)-mediated signal transduction in neuronal cells. Our long-range goal is to identify the role of insulin and IGF1 in neurodegenerative disorders.

Read more: Visit website  |  Email: sreejay@uwyo.edu

Jonathan F. Prather

Associate Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

The goal of my lab is to understand the neural mechanisms that enable us to communicate. This process requires that we perform and perceive complex signals, and we are only beginning to understand how those signals are processed in the central nervous system.

Read more: Visit website  |  Email: jprathe2@uwyo.edu

  Brandon Roberts

Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

Our lab focuses on understanding interactions between early life overnutrition, daily rhythms, and how these relationships impact neural function and behavior at the circuit level. We are particularly interested in how early life environment impacts brain-body hormone signaling in adulthood. Our overarching goal is to leverage these mechanistic findings to develop timed meal plans and/or the optimal time of day for pharmaceutical interventions.

Read more: Visit website  |  Email: brandon.roberts@uwyo.edu

Grace Shearrer

Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

The maternal to adolescent eating, nutrition, and development (M2AENAD) lab is working to find bio-behavioral risk factors for overeating, excess weight gain, and insulin resistance. We study populations at risk of excess weight gain while rapidly developing (pregnant women, toddlers, and adolescents). The M2AENAD lab uses a variety of techniques such as eye tracking, probabilistic reward learning, and eating in the absence of hunger paradigms in these developing human populations. We also specialize in secondary data analysis of functional MRI scans employing a variety of cutting-edge analytical methods including graph theoretical analysis and inter-subject functional correlation analysis to examine the etiology underlying hedonic overeating.

Read more: Visit website  |  Email: gshearre@uwyo.edu

  Ram Shukla

Asst Professor, Department of Zoology & Physiology

Email: rshukla@uwyo.edu

My lab is deeply interested in unraveling the cellular and molecular commonalities and disparities among psychiatric disorders. A recent area of intrigue for us is the role of ribosomes. We are actively exploring the hypothesis that these molecular machines, owing to their mobility within neurons, contribute to the variable clinical presentation of mood and other psychiatric disorders.

Qian-Quan Sun

Professor, Department of Zoology and Physiology

One of the amazing characters of our brain is its ability to learn and to adapt. This capacity of learning is enormous when we are young. In addition, injury to the immature brain results in much more elaborate reorganization than that observed with comparable injuries in adulthood.

Read more: Visit website  |  Email: neuron@uwyo.edu