Program Description
Biological psychology is the behavioral neuroscience portion of the expanding field of neuroscience. The members of the Biological Psychology division use neuroscience techniques mostly (but not exclusively) in animals to understand how the brain works to produce behavior. The program is strongly research oriented and each student works directly with a faculty mentor. Topics that individual researchers explore include neural plasticity, the cellular basis for learning and memory and for fragile X syndrome, hormonal effects on neural development and aging, drugs of abuse and addiction, auditory encoding of speech, physiology of the visual system, and genetic influences on motivation. The faculty and students in the Biological division interact with the Brain and Cognition division in Psychology and the campus wide Neuroscience Program
Curriculum
The curriculum is tailored to the individual student's interests and goals. The only course requirements are the department's requirements and the weekly division brown bag (Psychology 511). Most students take courses in the various biology departments outside of Psychology as part of the department's minor requirement. Participation in research is emphasized and each student presents a first year project by the end of the third semester in graduate school.
Facilities and Resources
Faculty laboratories are either in the Psychology Building or in the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute. There are animal housing facilities in both buildings. In addition, all faculty and students have access to group facilities for such techniques as electron microscopy, confocal microscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Affiliated Departments, Programs and Institutes
All of the faculty in the Biological Division are also members of the campus wide Neuroscience Program. There are also close ties to the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute and to several departments within the Schools of Molecular and Cellular Biology and of Integrative Biology. Some graduate students within the Biological Psychology Division have also been members of the campus MD/PhD (Medical Scholars) Program. Admission to both the Medical Scholars Program and the Psychology Department doctoral program is required. Members of the division will also be interacting with the Institute for Genomic Biology that is currently under construction on campus.
Biological Division Faculty
| William T. Greenough (Professor) |
 | Cellular mechanisms underlying learning and memory and other brain information storage processes; genetic and environmental sources of mental retardation; psychobiology of mammalian development; quantitative anatomy; effects of exercise on the brain; MRI and spectroscopy in brain; and the roles of astrocytes in brain function. |
| Office: Room 530 | (217) 333-4472 | wgreenou@uiuc.edu |
| Joshua Gulley (Assistant Professor) |
 | Neurobiology of drug and alcohol addiction, with an emphasis on behavioral and physiological analyses of brain reward pathways in animal models of drug taking and repeated drug exposure. |
| Office: Room 731 | (217) 265-6413 | jgulley@uiuc.edu |
| Janice M. Juraska (Professor) |
 | The effects of sex, hormones (especially gonadal) and the environment on the development of brain structure and of behavioral abilities in rats across the lifespan. |
| Office: Room 735 | (217) 333-8546 | jjuraska@illinois.edu |
| Justin S. Rhodes (Assistant Professor) |
 | Physiological, cellular and molecular mechanisms of motivation for natural and drug rewards using mice as a model organism; behavior genetics of exercise and effects of exercise on cognition and brain function. |
| Office: Room 527 Psychology Building | (217) 265-0021 | jrhodes@uiuc.edu |
| Robert E. Wickesberg (Associate Professor) |
 | To discover the cues that are used to recognize speech, we examine how speech is encoded in the peripheral auditory system. |
| Office: Room 535 | (217) 333-1147 | wickesbe@illinois.edu |
Associated Faculty from Other Divisions
| Michael Coles (Professor Emeritus) |
 | The utility of measures of brain activity, derived using non-invasive procedures, in understanding human cognitive function. |
| Office: Room 509 | (217) 333-2122 | m-coles@uiuc.edu |
| Monica Fabiani (Professor) |
 | Memory; cognition and aging; neuroimaging; optical imaging; cognitive neuroscience. |
| Office: Room 517 | (217) 244-1117 | mfabiani@illinois.edu |
| Gabriele Gratton (Professor) |
 | Gabriele Gratton's interests are in cognitive neuroscience and attention and performance. |
| Office: Room 519 | (217) 244-1019 | grattong@uiuc.edu |
| Joseph G. Malpeli (Professor Emeritus) |
 | Neurophysiology of the mammalian visual system. |
| Office: Room 521 | (217) 333-6605 | jmalpeli@uiuc.edu |
