Wes Grueber is Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics and Neuroscience. His work has contributed molecular insights into dendritic development including how processes from the same cell recognize each other as ‘self’ during development, a phenomenon termed self-avoidance that is essential for proper assembly of neural circuits. His current research focuses on understanding the basis of somatosensation, including proprioceptive body sensing, and molecular, circuit, and behavioral studies of interoception. Dr. Grueber is PI of the Neurobiology and Behavior Training Grant, co-founded the Columbia Access to Doctoral Readiness (CADRE) postbaccalaureate program, and directs a summer program for undergraduates aimed at increasing participation in neuroscience research. He is Assistant Dean for Career Development in the Vagelos Institute for Biomedical Research Education (VIBRE), is a member of the MD/PhD advisory committee, and has been a standing member of the Neurodifferentiation, Plasticity, and Regeneration (NDPR) study section (NIH), as well as a reviewer for the NIH NRSA individual fellowships. He has been a co-director of the Neurobiology and Behavior Program since 2013.
Ken Miller is Professor of Neuroscience and a member of the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics. He was on the faculty at UCSF for 11 years before moving to Columbia in 2004, where he co-founded Columbia's Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. Dr. Miller is a leading modeler of the primary visual cortex (V1), long one of the key model systems for understanding the function, circuitry, and development of the cerebral cortex, and works more generally on sensory cortical systems. His research focuses on understanding the circuitry underlying functional response properties in sensory cortex, the learning mechanisms underlying the development and plasticity of this circuitry, and the computations these circuits and mechanisms perform. Dr. Miller teaches Theoretical Neuroscience, Advanced Topics in Theoretical Neuroscience, and Responsible Conduct in Research/Policy, and is on the advisory board of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Göttingen, Germany.
Dr. Clarissa Waites is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and of Neuroscience, located at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and Aging Brain. Dr. Waites’ work focuses on understanding mechanisms of neuronal protein homeostasis and investigating how chronic stress and glucocorticoid stress hormones contribute to brain pathology underlying Alzheimer’s disease and depression. She has served as co-director of the Pathobiology and Mechanisms of Disease Graduate Program at CUIMC and is currently an Associate Vice Chair for Research and Training in the Department of Pathology. Dr. Waites is also an ad hoc member of several NIH study sections including Cellular and Molecular Neurodegeneration (CMND), Fellowships: Neurodevelopment, Synaptic Plasticity, and Neurodegeneration (F03A), and the Neurodegeneration conflict panel, ZRG1 AN-D (02). Her active teaching and participation across graduate programs on the CUIMC Health Sciences campus, including her mentorship of multiple graduate students and service on >20 thesis committees, has allowed her to foster close ties to faculty and students interested in cellular/molecular neuroscience and the neurobiology of disease.