Bernhard Luscher is Professor of Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Psychiatry. He studied Biochemistry at the ETH in Zurich, received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich, and conducted postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley. He returned to the University of Zurich in 1990 where he started his own laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology. He joined Penn State as an Associate Professor in 1999, was appointed as Interim Co-Director of the Penn State Neuroscience Institute in 2004 and promoted to Professor in 2006. His laboratory is part of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience in the Life Sciences building at the University Park campus of Penn State University. Dr. Luscher can be contacted at BXL25@psu.edu.

Qiuying Shen is a graduate student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department. She studies the function of GABA-A receptors in the conrtrol of neurogenesis, anxiety and depression states. Qiuying can be reached at qxs108@psu.edu.

Nadia Sahir has received her Ph.D from the University of Paris VII in France. She is studing developmental deficits underlying anxiety in GABA-A receptor mutant mice. Dr. Sahir can be reached at nxs29@psu.edu.

Cheng Fang, Ph. D. has recently defended her thesis as a graduate student in the Department of Biology. Cheng has identified an importnat function of GODZ (Golgi-specific DHHC-CRD domain-containing zinc-finger protein) in trafficking of GABA-A receptors and GABAergic synapse formation (see her paper in J. Neuroscienece, pdf file). Cheng can be contacted at cuf104@psu.edu.

Clint Earnheart, Ph.D has recently defended his thesis as a graduate student in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology (BMB Department). Clint has identified a novel developmental function of gamma2 subunit containng GABA-A receptors which is essential for the control of adult neurogenesis as well as the devevelopmnet of normal emotionality (anxiety/depression) in mice. Email Clint at jce142@psu.edu.

Xu Yuan comes to us from the Chinese city of Chengdu. She is a student in the Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Genetics at Penn State and works on a novel GABA-A receptor subunit interacting protein implicated in endocytic trafficking of GABA-A receptors. You can contact Xu at xzy101@psu.edu.

Shoko Masuda is a graduate student in the Neuroscience graduate program in. She is generating mice with mutations in palmitoyltransferases to elucidate the function of these emzymes in trafficking of neural proteins. You can contact her at sum153@psu.edu.

Shuai Shi has joined the lab in 2005 as a student in the Cell and Developmental Biology graduate program. He works on elucidating the mechansim of GABAergic synapse formation. He can be contacted at sxs999@psu.edu.

Susan Lingenfelter is a Senior Research Technologist and expert in preparation of primary cultured neurons from diverse brain regions, oversees the breeding and genotyping of our transgenic mouse facility and maintains the labs animal records and IACUC licenses. She can be contacted at sel4@psu.edu.

Rachna Lal, is a studnet in the Integrated Undergraduate Graduate Degree Program of the Schreyer Honors College. Her email address is rul120@psu.edu.

Sebnem Tuncdemir comes to us from Bogazici University inTurkey and is conducting her honors thesis as a student of the Schreyer honors college. She can be reached at snt5018psu.edu.