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

Congratulations to...
Professor Gary Matthews upon receiving the 2008 Boycott Prize » more

Welcome to…
- New grad students » more

- New Faculty: Alfredo Fontanini, Shaoyu Ge, and Arianna Maffei

- New Employees: Julia Georgi (Fontanini), Li Liang (Mendell) Joshua Matulonis (Role), Martha Stone (Fontanini) and Marlene Vera-Viteri (Department Office)

Applause for...

Herman Gudjonson, one of five Stony Brook finalists in the Intel Science Talent search. Herman, a senior at Ward Melville High School, works in the Kernan lab, and is using Drosophila to study an obesity syndrome protein: he has found that it is needed in flies for normal taste and smell.
» more » more

Introducing...
our new 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.

Lab Spotlight...
Members of the Role and Talmage Laboratories are interested in the molecular underpinnings of synapses and circuits. We study how synapses form, how they are maintained and modified by activity, experience and injury. The laboratories work to together to further our efforts through interdisciplinary in vitro and in vivo approaches. We examine the  structure, function and components of  CNS synapses using  combined molecular, electrophysiological and behavioral techniques in genetically modified mice.  The work is focused on circuits related to natural reward, sensory gating and attention with the long range goal of better understanding of pathways commonly affected in Neuro-psychiatirc disorders. Current work probes the molecular mechanisms and functional role of Neuregulin 1- (Nrg 1) - erb signaling and the contribution of a7 type nicotinic AChRs in circuits related to motivation and reward.  Genes encoding Nrg1, Erb B and alpha7 nAChRs have all been implicated as susceptibility genes for Schizophrenia.