Welcome from the Chair of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology

The Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology supports the vision and goals of USF Health and the School of  Biomedical Sciences. Our mission is to offer outstanding educational opportunities to medical students, graduate students, and fellows and to perform innovative biomedical research.

Research in the Department is focused on interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the nervous and cardiovascular systems and related disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular disease and stroke, diabetes, and neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and drug addiction.

Areas of interest include:

• Cell signaling networks and the regulation of heart rate
• Glycobiology
• Regulation and development of ion channels, synapses, and cell excitability
• Cardiac hormones
• Renal function and blood pressure regulation
• Molecular mechanisms of septic shock  
• Neural plasticity with neurodegenerative disease and after brain injury
• Therapies for stroke
• Cellular and molecular mechanisms of CNS oxygen toxicity
• Hyperbaric neurophysiology
• Computational neuroscience
• Brainstem central chemoreceptors
• Neural networks that control breathing and cardiovascular function
• Receptors of brain neurotransmitters; Mechanisms of anesthetic drugs
• Regulation and expression of sterol
• Diabetes
• Regulation of lipid metabolism and mechanisms of alcohol-induced liver disease
• Alzheimer's Disease: Mechanisms and Therapies

Members of the faculty also serve as editors, editorial board members, or reviewers for scientific journals and professional society-based educational resources.