Neuroendocrine and Homeostatic Systems

Neuroendocrine disorders represent conditions where homeostatic mechanisms of control of the endocrine and autonomic nervous system are impaired, resulting in obesity, hypertension, gastric ulcers, and depression. The faculty members who study these complex disorders use a broad array of approaches in order to understand the molecular, cellular, and systems level controls of these processes.

Research covers a wide array of systems to include: the role of specific peptides in obesity; role of the immune system in development of pain; communication between nerve tissue and immune cells and their role in response to pathogens; metabolites that might be biomarkers for disease progression in Huntington’s disease; neuroendocrine mechanisms for the control of secretory functions of the adrenal cortex, control of circadian rhythms and mechanisms of stress relief; alterations in somatosensory perception in diabetes, cancer, and neuropathic diseases; brain sites and substrates that mediate our energy balance in obesity; role of gender, stress hormones, and immunology in fibromyalgia syndrome; neural regulation of feeding; neurovascular coupling in diabetes and in conditions of hypoxia; role of gonadal hormones on neuronal function and addiction; neuroendocrine signaling pathways that control different developmental stages; role of central nervous system in control of hypertension; and the role of the parasympathetic nervous system on cardia arrhythmias, depression and pain.

 

Faculty

Suma Jacob
Michael Lee