Synaptic Transmission

Dr. Meriney is Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his Ph.D. in Physiology / Neuroscience with Dr. Guillermo Pilar at the University of Connecticut studying the development of parasympathetic synapses that innervate the intrinsic eye muscles. He then moved on to postdoctoral training in synaptic physiology at UCLA under the direction of Dr. Alan Grinnell where he used the neuromuscular junction as a model system to study presynaptic mechanisms of transmitter release. At the University of Pittsburgh, he has developed a research program focused on neurotransmitter release, plasticity, and diseases of the synapse, including the development of a new class of calcium channel gating modifiers with therapeutic potential to treat various neuromuscular disorders that result in weakness. Dr. Meriney has received grant support for this research from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the American Heart Association, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Dr. Meriney has developed and taught several undergraduate courses at the University of Pittsburgh including Developmental Neuroscience and Synaptic Transmission, that both serve a relatively large class of undergraduates majoring in Neuroscience. He is also currently the co-director for the graduate program within the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh, a multi-departmental cross campus PhD training program. Dr. Fanselow completed her Ph.D. in neurobiology with Dr. Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University, where she studied the function of the thalamocortical loop in the rodent somatosensory system. Additionally, she pioneered methods for using trigeminal nerve stimulation as a treatment for epilepsy. She then did a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Barry Connors at Brown University, where her research focused on neurophysiological aspects of synaptic connectivity and the roles inhibitory neurons play neuronal networks. Her findings apply both to understanding the basic function of neocortical circuitry and to the pathology of epilepsy. Dr. Fanselow was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh, where her lab focused on the physiological roles of inhibitory synapses in neocortical circuitry. During this time, she also had the opportunity to teach neurophysiology to graduate and medical students. Dr. Fanselow has worked as an independent consultant on neuroelectrophysiological recording techniques, and is currently a full-time instructor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh. She teaches multiple undergraduate courses to neuroscience majors, including Synaptic Transmission, Functional Neuroanatomy, Drugs and Behavior, Introduction to Neuroscience, and several advanced neuroscience electives focusing on the anatomical and neurobiological bases for neurological disorders.