Behavioral Neuroscience PhD Program

Mark Kristal, Ph.D.
Behavioral Neuroscience Area Head

 

Course Descriptions

 

Program Highlights

  • Advantages:

    • individualized programs
    • flexible admissions
    • fellowships and assistantships
    • excellent placement of graduates
    • affiliated with university-wide neuroscience program
    • diversity of research interests
    • small size encourages development of close professional relationships with faculty

  • Behavioral Neuroscience at UB is:

    • primarily a doctoral program
    • neural basis of cognitive filtering and attention
    • brain mechanisms of sexual and maternal behavior
    • psychobiology of analgesia
    • neural control of social behavior
    • EEG correlates of human brain lateralization and dysfunction
    • Neurochemistry of emotion
    • sound perception and acoustic communication
    • neural and biochemical basis of food, water, and salt intake
    • neurobiology of learning and memory
    • brain mechanisms of addiction and drug abuse
    • supervision of MA students in the context of some faculty research programs

  • Facilities -- laboratories include:

    • surgical suite
    • histology lab
    • microdialysis and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
    • brain self-stimulation
    • immunocytochemistry
    • radioimmunoassay
    • microinjection
    • Western blotting
    • quantitiative polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
    • operant techniques and psychopharmacology
    • behavioral testing

 

Program Faculty

A list of faculty accepting Ph.D. students for Fall 2012 can be found here. When you are listing potential advisors on your application, be certain to select from the faculty members who are accepting new students.

  • Michael Bozarth, (PhD, Concordia University, 1983), Associate Professor: biological basis of appetitive motivation and reward, specifically psychomotor stimulant and opioid effects; other interests include drug addiction and motivational theory.
  • Derek Daniels, (PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 2001), Associate Professor: Neural and biochemical basis of ingestive behavior; neural circuits and intracellular signaling involved in the regulation of food, water, and salt intake by centrally acting peptides; maintenance of body fluid and energy homeostasis.
  • Micheal Dent, (PhD, University of Maryland, 2001), Associate Professor: The perception of complex sounds and auditory illusions in birds and small mammals, acoustic communication, and animal cognition.
  • Jan Hastrup, (PhD, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1977), Associate Professor: stress and genetic factors in the etiology of physical and psychological disorders and neuropsychological correlates of problem solving.
  • Eduardo Mercado III, (PhD, University of Hawaii, 1998), Associate Professor: Neural processing of auditory information, cortical plasticity, neurobiology of learning and memory, cognitive and computational neuroscience.
  • Mark Kristal, (PhD, Kansas State University, 1971), Professor: physiological bases of motivated behavior (especially reproduction and ingestion); neural and endocrine basis of maternal behavior in mammals; functions of the hypothalamus; opioid systems and maternal behavior, parturition, and antinociception.
  • David Shucard, (PhD, University of Denver, 1969), Professor: cognitive processes (e.g., attention and working memory) in normal adults, children, and clinical populations (MS, SLE) using electrophysiology, neuropsychology, and neuroimaging; animal models are also studied.
  • Alexis Thompson, (PhD, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1992), Research Scientist, Research Institute on Addictions: The roles of stress and neuropeptides in analgesia, drug addiction, and maternal behavior. (Associate Professor of Psychology).

 

Adjunct Faculty
(hold an adjunct position in the Department of Psychology):

  • Robert Burkard, (PhD, University of Wisconsin, 1983), Professor, Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences. Hearing and deafness, auditory perception and cognition. (Research Professor of Psychology)
  • Peter Butera, (PhD, Purdue University, 1985), Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, Niagara University. Hormonal control of ingestive behavior and meal patterns, neural mechanisms of estrogen action, cytokines and disease anorexia. (Research Professor of Psychology)
  • Jean DiPirro, (PhD, University at Buffalo, 2001), Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Buffalo State College. Neurochemistry and neuropharmacology of opioid systems, pain, analgesia, and anxiety. (Research Associate Professor of Psychology)
  • Richard Salvi, (PhD, Syracuse University, 1975), Professor, Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences. Central and peripheral auditory physiology and behavior; regeneration of hair cells. (Research Professor of Psychology)
  • Roh-Yu Shen, (PhD, Wayne State University, 1989), Senior Research Scientist, Research Institute on Addictions. Electrophysiology, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology, brain development and addiction. (Research Associate professor of Psychology)
  • Jennifer Temple, (Ph.D., University of Virginia, 2002), Assistant Professor, Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Professions. Factors that influence motivation to eat, gender differences in the effects of caffeine in adolescents, and the role of sensory system processing in food reward and intake. (Research Assistant Professor of Psychology).
  • Scott Wersinger, (PhD, Boston University, 1996). Molecular basis of motivation and emotion, molecular genetics, behavioral neuroendocrinology (Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology).

 

Affiliated Faculty (UB collaborators):

  • Lisa B.E. Martin, (DVM, University of Guelph, 1990), Chief of Veterinary Services and Director of the Laboratory Animal Veterinary Residency Program, University at Buffalo. Influence of pre- and post-surgical opioid analgesics on pain and recovery.
  • Jerry Richards, (PhD, Emory University, 1988), Senior Research Scientist, Research Institute on Addictions: Roles of dopamine and serotonin in control of impulsivity.
  • Matthew Xu-Friedman, (PhD, Cornell University, 1997), Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences. Influences of synaptic plasticity on neuronal analysis of information in the auditory brainstem.

 

An Overview of the Program...

 

Apply Online

Note: Applications for Fall 2012 are now closed. Applications for Fall 2013 will be available in August.