PhD in Medical Sciences
Neuroscience
Research and education in the Neuroscience concentration in the Medical Sciences PhD Program is focused on interdisciplinary approaches to the study of nervous system and related disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, stroke, and neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and drug addiction. Training will include a unique interdisciplinary blend of didactic coursework, journal clubs, seminar series, as well as significant research experience.
Courses
The curriculum for the PhD in Medical Sciences can be found in the Graduate Catalog. A sample of courses offered within the Neuroscience concentration is listed below.
- Basic Medical Neuroscience
- Advanced Neuroscience
- Neuropharmacology
- Neuroimmunology
- Advanced Neuroanatomy
- Stem Cells and Brain Repair
- Aging & Neuroscience
Faculty & Research
Current research interests include:
- Alcohol and substance use disorders
- Alzheimer's disease
- Neurobiology of aging
- Computational neuroscience
- Hyperbaric neurophysiology
- Gene and stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative disease
- Cellular and molecular mechanisms of CNS oxygen toxicity
- Neural plasticity with neurodegenerative disease and after brain injury
Learn more about our faculty, students, and their research interests below.
Current Faculty & StudentsAffiliated Institutes & Facilities
Concentration Spotlights
Awards
Danielle Blazier & Marilyn Ikhane - Edith Wright Hartley Scholarship, 2023
Teresa Kee - Japan Neuroscience Society Meeting Travel Award, 2023
Recent Publications
Blazier, D. M., Lewandowski, E. M., Ram, N., Zhang, X., Wang, S., Patel, O., Collier, L., Defilippi, P., Chen, Y., & Thinakaran, G. (2025). A biophysical and molecular characterization of the interaction between the Alzheimer risk factor BIN1 and the neuronal scaffold protein p140Cap. The Journal of biological chemistry, 301(10), 110665. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2025.110665
Chaney, S. D., Bauman, A. J., Butlig, E. R., Al-Masri, S., Montoya Sanchez, J., McAdams, L. H., Doan, P. H., Gwin, M. S., Stevens, T., Ciernia, A. V., Lin, M. T., & Nelson, A. R. (2026). Tau is necessary for Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced blood-brain barrier dysfunction. Communications biology, 9(1), 427. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09703-x
Walters KF, Shukla R, Kumar V, Schueren S, Yadav H, Schilaty ND, Jain S. Resting-State EEG Power Spectral Density Analysis Between Healthy and Cognitively Impaired Subjects. Brain Sci. 2025 Feb 10;15(2):173. doi: 10.3390/brainsci15020173. PMID: 40002506; PMCID: PMC11853412.
More Information
For information about the Medical Sciences PhD Program, contact 813-974-2836 or biomedphd@usf.edu.
Please note, students do not apply directly to a concentration. Interested students should submit an application for the PhD in Medical Sciences. Concentrations are typically selected during the first year of study.