Neurobiology

About Us

The Department of Neurobiology plays a leading role within the Pittsburgh neuroscience community. The Department currently employs 24 primary faculty, as well as 7 research faculty. In addition, the Department serves host to emeritus, secondary or adjunct faculty members holding primary appointments at other departments within the University of Pittsburgh, as well as in the nearby campuses of Carnegie-Mellon University, and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The Department faculty research programs span nearly all areas of modern neuroscience, including neural development, circuit function, cellular and synaptic communication, neuronal dysfunction, as well as systems, integrative and computational neuroscience.

The department actively integrates research and training efforts with campus and citywide neuroscience programs in Pittsburgh, including the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute (UPBI), the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh (CNUP), the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), the Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (PIND), the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research (PCPR), the Systems Neuroscience Center, Auditory Neuroscience, and the Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center (PHRC).

The department invests substantial time and energy in the education of medical and graduate students. Neurobiology faculty serve as directors of three Medical School courses and participate as lecturers or problem-based learning (PBL) leaders in Medical Anatomy, Musculoskeletal Systems, Clinical Correlations, Cell and Tissue Structure, and Medical Neuroscience. Graduate teaching in core courses includes Foundations of Biomedical Sciences, Cell and Molecular Neurobiology and Systems Neurobiology. Faculty also teach in advanced graduate courses, and facilitate graduate student-oriented journal clubs.

A seminar series is held throughout the academic year and hosts prominent guests from other universities, as well as faculty from the University of Pittsburgh/Carnegie-Mellon University community.