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Neuroscience Graduate Program

The NSP at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is an interdisciplinary program of study and research leading to the doctoral degree.

We offer a rigorous yet flexible program designed to foster the growth of the student through research activities, close interactions with faculty, and exposure to top neuroscientists through our seminar series and attendance at professional meetings.

Neuroscience Program Events Calendar

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Neuroscience News

NSP Faculty member, Xiaotang Lu, received the NIH Director's New Innovator Award for her work mapping connections within the brain.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Xiaotang Lu, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has received the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award...

Cultivating Affective Resilience: Proof-of-Principle Evidence of Translational Benefits From a Novel Cognitive-Emotional Training Intervention

AbstractAvailable evidence highlights the importance of emotion regulation in psychological well-being. However, translation of the beneficial effects of ER from laboratory to real-life remains scarce. Here, we present proof-of-principle evidence from a novel cognitive-emotional...

Beckman’s newest seed project will expand existing AI models into a framework that analyzes neurological aging.

In its fourth year, the research seed grant program at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology will fund one research project beginning in 2026.Members of the team include, from left, Nien-Pei Tsai...

Honey bee larvae can't smell - and that's actually a good thing

BEESEarth.com (Telluride, Colo., July 16) — Gene Robinson, Illinois entomology professor and executive director and CEO of the Discovery Partners Institute, led a study seeking to understand if a young bee never has to find its own food, does it still need to smell the world around it? “Larval...

Artificial Intelligence: Enabling More Sustainable Labs

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCETechnology Networks (with audio; Suffolk, England, May 6) — Jimeng Sun, a computer science professor at the U. of I., used training data from over 8,000 past trials to predict the outcome of more than 3,400 recent drug studies in a prediction model. “All this...

Steve Maren, Director, Beckman Institute

The surprising scientific benefits behind memory manipulation

Today we know that our brains re-write our memories each time we recall them, but what if we could control that process? We're exploring the science of memory manipulation, which could transform treatments for Alzheimer's, PTSD, and more. To answer our questions, KCBS Radio news anchor Steve Scott...

Faculty Spotlight

Pengfei Song, Assistant Professor

Pengfei Song is an assistant professor and Y.T. Lo Faculty Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering who specializes in ultrasound imaging. Song first came across ultrasound while pursuing his BS in Biomedical Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. “There was this professor with some research projects focused on using MATLAB to perform image reconstruction,” he recalled. “I got really interested in that project, so I learned more about medical and ultrasound imaging.” Song then followed this interest in ultrasound from China to the United States,...

Stephanie Matt, Research Assistant Professor, Drexel University

Alumni Spotlight

Alumna Spotlight: Stephanie Matt

Stephanie Matt, Class of 2018by Virginia WrightAs of July 2023, Stephanie Matt is a Research Assistant Professor at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After five years of working as a postdoctoral researcher for Drexel, she recently won an NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) to investigate the role of antidepressants in HIV infection and inflammation in myeloid cells such as macrophages and microglia. Receiving this grant provided not only mentored support for her research career but also a place within Drexel University faculty. “It took...

Publication Spotlight

Post-Translational Modifications Optimize the Ability of SARS-CoV-2 Spike for Effective Interaction with Host Cell Receptors

Abstract Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike glycoprotein is the prime target for vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutic antibodies against the virus. While anchored in the viral envelope, for effective virulence, the spike needs to maintain structural flexibility to recognize the host cell surface receptors and bind to them, a property that can heavily depend upon the dynamics of the unresolved domains, most prominently the stalk. Construction of the complete, membrane-bound spike model and the description of its dynamics are critical steps in understanding...

South Quad - McFarland Carillon Memorial Bell Tower

Land Acknowledgement

As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a responsibility to acknowledge the historical context in which it exists. We are currently on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Peankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. It is necessary for us to acknowledge these Native Nations and for us to work with them as we move forward as an institution with Native peoples at the core of our efforts.

More about the practice of land acknowledgements at the University of Illinois.