Ph.D. in Integrative Neuroscience

SUNY Stony Brook University

Our field focuses on elucidating biological mechanisms that underlie behavior and behavioral disorders. For example, we are interested in identifying the neural circuits involved in behaviors and behavioral predispositions, such as cognitive performance, personality traits, or emotions. The advent of MRI has revolutionized our ability to conduct such studies in healthy human beings. To accomplish our research goals we use an NSF-funded 3T MRI scanner at our SCAN (Social, Cognitive/Clinical, and Affective Neuroscience) Center, directed by Prof. Turhan Canli. However, localization (the ''where'') is only a starting point in Integrative Neuroscience. To explain sensation, emotion, and movement, we also seek to understand how cells, neurochemicals and genes act within those neural circuits . We also seek to identify the behavioral deficits that result from neurological disorders in humans and animal models of those disorders.