Physiology and Neuroscience

Research

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#5 in NIH Research Funding

The Department of Physiology and Neuroscience has a longstanding record of excellence in securing NIH funding, consistently ranking among the top 5 recipients. In federal fiscal year 2025, the department is ranked #5 nationally in NIH funding in its field according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. Our esteemed faculty lead pioneering research in areas including Alzheimer’s disease, neurodegenerative disorders, stroke, sensory systems and circuits, renal physiology, and the kidney-brain axis. Faculty members also actively mentor Master of Medical Physiology candidates as thesis advisors, fostering the next generation of scientific leaders in the field. This achievement contributes to the Keck School of Medicine of USC ranking #1 in NIH funding per investigator.

Graphic indicating the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience ranks #5 nationally in NIH funding in 2025, according to Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research rankings.

Research Focuses

Marcelo P. Coba, PharmD, MS (Biochemistry), PhD

Coba’s research focuses on investigating how candidate risk factors associated to schizophrenia and other developmental disorders work together in common signaling pathways, combining state-of-the-art mass spectrometry, proteomics, bioinformatics, mouse genetics and human stem cell methods. This strategy helps determine core signaling mechanisms and protein complexes, altered through development in schizophrenia, providing new molecular targets for treatment.

Janos Peti-Peterdi, MD, PhD

Peti-Peterdi’s research focuses on renal (patho)physiology, the role of kidneys in maintaining body fluid and electrolyte hemostasis and blood pressure in health and diseases, including chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy and hypertension; kidney tissue remodeling and nephron regeneration; function of macula densa cells of the juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA); and the role of podocytes in the maintenance and pathology of the glomerular filtration barrier.

Li Zhang, PhD

Zhang’s research focuses on representation and processing in sensory cortex, development of cortical organizations, formation and plasticity of cortical microcircuitry and neural basis for cortical pathologies.

Berislav Zlokovic, MD, PhD

Zlokovic’s laboratory focuses on the blood-brain barrier and neurovascular regulations, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS and stroke. Using animal models and studying human brain, his laboratory has shown that dysfunction in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and brain microcirculation can accumulate before neuronal dysfunction and contribute to the onset and progression of different neurological phenotypes and symptoms including cognitive impairment.