For any new Alzheimer’s disease drug to achieve FDA approval and widespread clinical use, it must be tested in human beings and demonstrated as both safe and efficacious. Studies to test the safety and efficacy…
In order to attain a natural reward like food, water, or sex, animals must know what and where rewards are, and how to get them. This is accomplished in part via the brain’s “reward circuitry,”…
Since starting my own lab in 2011, I have focused on microglia, the immune cell of the brain. We discovered that microglia in the adult brain are dependent upon signaling through the colony-stimulating factor 1…
The nicotinic cholinergic system is one of the major modulatory neurotransmitter systems in the brain and has been implicated in learning, memory formation, and drug addiction. My laboratory provides an integrated environment that combines molecular…
Long-term memory storage is an essential process to human life. Without long-term memory, we would not be able to remember our pasts, interpret our present, or predict our future. We would have little personal identity,…
Empirical studies of human information processing, visual memory systems, attention, visual perception.Mathematical, computational, and neural models of vision, attention, and short-term memory.
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Dr. Stark’s research investigates the neural bases of human long-term memory. He uses multiple forms of MRI imaging (functional, structural, diffusion, and spectroscopy) in conjunction with experimental psychology and studies of aging and dementia to…
Neural functions rely on highly ordered circuit assembly during development. In the central auditory system, these connections must be very precise to allow for the fast and reliable processing needed in auditory perception. Our laboratory…
I have made significant contributions to both basic neuroscience theory and research, and novel research technology (such as tetrode recording). Although my past theoretical and experimental work has focused largely on information coding and intrinsic…
The overall goal of my research is centered on elucidating the genetic, epigenetic and molecular mechanisms underlying motivated behaviors that characterize drug addiction. My research team conducts cutting-edge studies to define the pathways and mechanisms…