Neuroscience | Interdisciplinary Program
Dr. Kara Pratt
Director, Neuroscience Graduate Program
Biological Sciences Building Room 213
Phone: (307) 223-6402
Debbie Swierczek
Program Coordinator
Knight Hall 247
Phone: (307) 766-4128
Email: neuroscience@uwyo.edu
The University of Wyoming’s Program in Neuroscience is interdisciplinary, with faculty
conducting research across departments such as Animal Science, Psychology, Zoology
and Physiology and Pharmacy. Faculty research is supported by funding from agencies
including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation
(NSF), and spans a range of topics including neurodegenerative diseases, behavioral
neuroscience and neural technologies such as virtual reality and electrophysiology.
Our program also has an internal advisory committee that comprises the following members:
Dr. Kara Pratt and Dr. Qian-Quan Sun.
Director, Neuroscience Program
Associate Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Biological Sciences Building Room 213
Areas of study: neural circuit development, sensory input and neural plasticity, functional development of neural circuits, intracellular mechanisms of circuit refinement, sensory regulation of neural development
Professor
AS/MB 405
Areas of study: reproductive physiology, neuroendocrine mechanisms controlling reproduction, reproductive behavior in domestic livestock, neuroendocrine control of ram reproductive behavior
Assistant Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Biological Sciences Room 316
Areas of study: evolutionary biology, systems neuroscience, genetic and neural basis of innate behavior, neural circuit modeling, voluntary micturition
Associate Professor
HS 480
(307) 766-4198 | jbushman@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: astrocyte function, glial cells in the central nervous system, nervous system regeneration, central nervous system injury, peripheral nervous system regeneration
Department Head
Department of Veterinary Sciences
Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory 221
(307) 766-9988 | jfox7@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, Huntington’s disease, genetic mouse models, disease mechanisms, neuroanatomy
Assistant Professor
Health Sciences Room 498
(307) 766-6532 | afrench9@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: alcohol and psychedelics' effects on the brain, neuropharmacology of psychedelics, addiction neuroscience, alcohol use disorder treatment, protein engineering, drug screening, electrophysiology, behavioral neuroscience
Professor Emeritus
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Areas of study: neuroethology, information processing in the vertebrate auditory system, sound localization, echolocation, recognition of communication signals, behavioral neuroscience, psychophysics, neurophysiology, neuroanatomy
Assistant Professor
Department of Veterinary Sciences
5004 Ag C
(307) 766-3139 | skane@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: neurodegenerative diseases, prion biology, and disease diagnostics, with a focus on chronic wasting disease (CWD), prion pathogenesis, immune system-based therapies, the application of prion disease models to other protein misfolding disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s
Associate Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Biological Sciences Building Room 414; Lab 425
(307) 823-2699 | yli30@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: biological basis of behavior and neural activity, with a focus on how neural activity encodes sensory information, thoughts, emotions and knowledge
Associate Professor
Biological Sciences Building Room 120
(307) 766-4327 | mminear2@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: spatial cognition, executive function, memory, and cognitive plasticity, with a focus on how environmental factors and targeted training (including virtual and augmented reality) influence cognitive processes, electrophysiology (EEG & ERPs), behavioral performance in immersive virtual reality environments
Professor of Pharmacology
Director, Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program
Health Sciences 484
(307) 766-6138 | sreejay@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) signaling in neuronal cells, with a focus on understanding their role in neurodegenerative disorders
Assistant Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Areas of study: genetics, neural circuits, behavioral neuroscience, behavioral ecology, automated behavioral analysis, genetics, electrophysiology, neural circuit manipulation
Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Biological Sciences Building Room 204
Areas of study: neural mechanisms of communication, with a focus on understanding how the brain processes complex signals required for both performing and perceiving communication, central nervous system
Assistant Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Biological Sciences Building Room 322
Areas of study: interactions between early life overnutrition, daily rhythms, and their impact on neural function and behavior, particularly at the circuit level, how early life environments influence brain-body hormone signaling in adulthood
Assistant Professor
Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
(307) 766-5261 | gshearre@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: neural mechanisms of communication, interactions between early life overnutrition, daily rhythms, and their impact on neural function and behavior, brain-body hormone signaling in adulthood, timed meal plans and optimal timing for pharmaceutical interventions, bio-behavioral risk factors for overeating, excess weight gain, and insulin resistance, eye tracking, probabilistic reward learning, eating in the absence of hunger paradigms, secondary data analysis of functional MRI scans, graph theoretical analysis, inter-subject functional correlation analysis, etiology of hedonic overeating
Assistant Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Biological Sciences Building Room 314F
Areas of study: cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders, hypothesis that ribosomes, due to their mobility within neurons, may contribute to the variable clinical presentation of mood and other psychiatric disorders
Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Biological Sciences Building Room 214
(307) 766-5602 | neuron@uwyo.edu
Areas of study: neuroplasticity, particularly focusing on learning and adaptation in the brain, the brain's capacity for learning is especially pronounced in early development and how injury to the immature brain leads to more extensive reorganization compared to similar injuries in adulthood
Associate Professor
Department of Zoology and Physiology
Biological Sciences Building Room 406
Areas of study: mammalian circadian system, particularly how its input and output pathways influence the daily timing of behaviors such as sleep-wake rhythms, locomotor activity, and aggression, the role of this circuitry in neurobehavioral pathologies associated with circadian dysfunction and behavioral aggression, such as sundowning syndrome in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias
Neuroscience faculty shown in bold
Program in neuroscience graduate students underlined
Allgood JA, Roballo KCS, Bridger RD, Bushman JS. 2022. Effect of graft source and orientation on regeneration of ablated branch points in peripheral nerves. Frontiers in Neuroscience. Accepted for publication 10/26/2022
Barbera G, Jun R, Zhang Y, Liang B, Li Y and Lin DT. 2022. A miniature fluorescence microscope for multi‑plane imaging. Scientific Reports 12: 16686. Doi:10.1038/s41598-022-21022-9
Bittner GD, Bushman JS, Ghergherehchi CL, Roballo KCS, Shorts JT, Smith TA. Typical and atypical properties of peripheral nerve allografts enable novel strategies to repair segmental-loss injuries. J Neuroinflammation. 2022 Feb 28;19(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s12974-022-02395-0.
Bloomstom NA, Zaharas K, Lawley K, Fenn T, Person E, Huber H, Zhang Z, Prather JF. 2022. Exploring links from sensory perception to movement and behavioral motivation in the caudal nidopalllium of female songbirds. Journal of Comparative Neurology https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.25305
Bruno JR, Udoh UG, Landen JG, Osborn PO, Asher CJ, Hunt JE, Pratt KG. 2022. A circadian-dependent preference for light displayed by Xenopus tadpoles is modulated by serotonin. iScience doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.105375.
Fujii T, Coulter, A, Lawley KS, Prather JF, Okanoya K. 2022. Song preference in female and juvenile songbirds: proximate and ultimate questions. Frontiers in Physiology. 13:876205. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.876205
Jun R, Zhang W, Beacher NJ, Zhang Y, Li Y, Lin DT. 2022. Dysbindin-1, BDNF, and GABAergic transmission in schizophrenia. Frontiers in Psychiatry 13:876749. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.876749.
Lawley KS, Fenn* T, Person* E, Huber* H, Zaharas* K, Smith* P, Coulter A, Prather JF. (in press) Auditory processing neurons influence song evaluation and strength of mate preference in female songbirds. In press at Frontiers in Neural Circuits.
Liang B, Thapa R, Zhang G, Moffitt C, Zhang Y, Zhang L, Johnston A, Ruby HP, Barbera G, Wong PC, Zhang Z, Lin DT, Li Y. 2022. Aberrant Neural Activity in Prefrontal Pyramidal Neurons Lacking TDP-43 Precedes Neuron Loss. Progress in Neurobiology 215: 112297. Doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2022.102297.
Liang B, Zhang L, Zhang Y, Werner C, Denman A, Li Y, Chen R, Gerfen C, Barbera G, and Lin DT. 2022. Striatal direct and indirect pathway neurons encode distinct elements in accelerating rotarod motor skill learning. iScience 25(5):104245. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104245.
Machado NLS, Todd WD, Kaur S, Saper CB. (2022) Median preoptic GABA and glutamate neurons exert differential control over sleep behavior. Current Biology 32(9):2011-2021.e3.
Williams RE, Mruk K. (2022) Aquatic Freshwater Vertebrate Models of Epilepsy Pathology: Past Discoveries and Future Directions for Therapeutic Discovery. Int J Mol Sci. 23(15):8608. doi: 10.3390/ijms23158608.
Wupu O, Allgood JA, Van Sandt R, Burns DT, Bushman JS. 2022. Sexual dimorphism in lesion size and sensorimotor responses following spinal cord injury. Front. Neurol. doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.92579
Barbera G, Thapa R, Adhikari N, Li Y, Lin DT (2024). Imaging Distinct Neuronal Populations with a Dual Channel miniScope. Frontiers in Neuroscience 18. doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2024.1445020
Dougan CE*, Roberts BL*, Crosby AJ, Karatsoreos IN, Peyton SR (2024). Short-term neural and glial response to mild traumatic brain injury in the hippocampus. Biophysical Journal. 123(19):3346-3354. *Co-first author
Glanzberg JT; Denman AJ; Beacher NJ; Broomer MC; Liang B; Li Y; Shaham Y; Barbera G; Zhang Y, Lin DT (2024). Individual Differences in Prelimbic Neural Representation of Food and Cocaine Seeking. Cell Reports 43(12): 115022. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.115022
Klett N, Gompf HS, Allen CN, Cravetchi O, Hablitz LM, Gunesch AN, Irwin RP, Todd WD, Saper CB, Fuller PM (2024) GABAergic signaling in the suprachiasmatic nucleus is required for coherent circadian rhythmicity. European Journal of Neuroscience. 024 Dec;60(11):6652-6667. doi: 10.1111/ejn.16582. PMID: 39558544; PMCID: PMC11612841.
Landen JG, Vandendoren M, Killmer S, Bedford NL, Nelson AC. (2024) Huddling substates in mice facilitate dynamic changes in body temperature and are modulated by Shank3b and Trpm8 mutation. Communications Biology 7, 1186. doi: org/10.1038/s42003-06781-7.
Mahshid Ghanbari, Jim Huang, August Luc, Mazdak Arabi, Joshua E. Goldman, Rose Byrne-Nash, Sarah J. Kane, Rebecca Ferrell, Tracy Fielder, Susan K. De Long, and Carol J. Wilusz. (2024) View of an Evolving Pandemic: Changes in the Relationship Between Clinical Cases and Levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Colorado Wastewater. ACS ES&T Water 4 (5), 2018-2030. doi: 10.1021/acsestwater.3c00615
Bettadapura S, Todd WD, McGinnis G, Bruns DR (2025). Circadian biology of cardiac aging. Invited review. In press at Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology. 2025 Feb;199:95-103. doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2024.12.001. Epub 2025 Jan 2. PMID: 39753393.
Coulter A, Prather JF (2025). Role of the ventral portion of intermediate arcopallium in stability of female Bengalese finch song preferences. Frontiers in Psychology. 15:1490858. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1490858
Pereira VM, Pradhanang S, Prather JF, Nair S (2024) Role of metalloproteinases in diabetes-associated mild cognitive impairment. Current Neuropharmacology. 23(1):58-74. doi: 10.2174/1570159X22666240517090855.
Nelson CF, Wyatt, CR, Johnson EC, Todd WD, Schmitt EE (2025). Acute and lifelong endurance exercise yields differential effects during circadian disruption in mice. In press at Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003643.
Nelson AC, Kapoor V, Vaughn E, Gnanasegaram JA, Rubinstein ND, Murthy VN, & Dulac C. 2025. Molecular and neural control of social hierarchy by forebrain-thalamocortical circuit. Accepted: Cell.
Rogers JF, Vandendoren M, Prather JF, Landen JG, Bedford NL, Nelson AC*. (2024) Neural cell-types and circuits linking thermoregulation and social behavior. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 61. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105667
Udoh UG, Bruno JR, Osborn PO, Pratt KG (2024) Serotonin strengthens a developing glutamatergic synapse through a PI3K-dependent mechanism. J Neurosci 44:e1260232023. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1260-23.2023.
Udoh UG, Zheng K, Bruno JR, Hunt JE, Pratt KG (2025) Distinct developmental programs displayed by the Xenopus tadpole accessory optic system and retinotectal projection. Dev Neurobiol. 85(3):e22968. doi: 10.1002/dneu.22968.
Zhong M, Buskirk RE, Willford JD, Prather JF, Ward NL (2025) Fostering metacognitive awareness in introductory biology: a lesson on protein structure. CourseSource 12. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2025.9
Neuroscience | Interdisciplinary Program
Dr. Kara Pratt
Director, Neuroscience Graduate Program
Biological Sciences Building Room 213
Phone: (307) 223-6402
Debbie Swierczek
Program Coordinator
Knight Hall 247
Phone: (307) 766-4128
Email: neuroscience@uwyo.edu