Top Researchers
Top Neuroscience Researchers at University of Colorado Boulder for 2026
Research in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder spans sleep and circadian biology, cognitive systems, mental health, genetics, and brain-based approaches to behavior. Across a broad sample of recent work, the campus community is showing a steady focus on how neural, psychological, and biological processes shape health and performance.
Below, you’ll find a snapshot of researchers whose recent publications reflect that range. Their work connects laboratory studies, neuroimaging, genetics, and clinical questions, offering a useful view of how neuroscience is being explored at the institution today.
Featured Researchers
Kenneth P. Wright
Kenneth P. Wright’s recent work at the University of Colorado Boulder centers on experimental and cognitive psychology, endocrine and autonomic systems, and cognitive neuroscience, with publications on chrononutrition, delayed sleep–wake phase disorder, and sleep extension in adolescents.
Activity over the last year: 8 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Advancing Chrononutrition for Cardiometabolic Health: A 2023 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Workshop Report (Apr 2025)
- Sleep and circadian rhythms in delayed sleep–wake phase disorder: Phenotypic differences between patients with and without comorbid depression (Jan 2025)
- Evening Chronotype Is Associated With Daytime Impairment and Differential Sleep and Circadian Response to a Sleep Extension Manipulation in Short Sleeping Adolescents (Jun 2025)
Marie T. Banich
Marie T. Banich’s recent publications at the University of Colorado Boulder focus on cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology, including attentional deficits in adolescents, executive function, and functional connectivity linked to psychopathology.
Activity over the last year: 6 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Investigating the Shared and Divergent Neuroanatomical Features of Attentional Deficits in Adolescents (May 2025)
- Individual differences in the activity of executive function brain regions during number comparison (Jul 2025)
- Intrinsic Functional Connectivity Associated with γ‑Aminobutyric Acid and Glutamate/Glutamine in the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex and Internalizing Psychopathology in Adolescents (May 2025)
Daniel E. Gustavson
Daniel E. Gustavson’s work at the University of Colorado Boulder brings together psychiatry and mental health, genetics, and experimental psychology, with recent studies on impulsivity, substance use, and polygenic links to developmental speech-language problems.
Activity over the last year: 9 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Impulsivity facets and substance use involvement: insights from genomic structural equation modeling (Jan 2025)
- Characterizing the Pleiotropic Architecture of Impulsivity and Its Links to Psychopathology and Neurodevelopment (Oct 2025)
- Musical rhythm abilities and risk for developmental speech-language problems and disorders: epidemiological and polygenic associations (Sep 2025)
Chandra A. Reynolds
Chandra A. Reynolds’s recent research at the University of Colorado Boulder spans experimental psychology, psychiatry and mental health, and genetics, covering ADHD symptoms, pubertal timing, and structural brain change across aging.
Activity over the last year: 9 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Genome-wide association meta-analysis of childhood ADHD symptoms and diagnosis identifies new loci and potential effector genes (Sep 2025)
- The long reach of puberty: mechanisms underlying sex-dependent links between pubertal timing and adult internalizing symptoms (Jan 2025)
- Vulnerability to memory decline in aging revealed by a mega-analysis of structural brain change (Nov 2025)
David H. Root
David H. Root’s publications at the University of Colorado Boulder connect cellular and molecular neuroscience with cognitive neuroscience, including studies of visual system sensitivity, ventral tegmental area glutamate neurons, and BNST GABA neurons.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Red Light Sensitivity of Non-image and Image Forming Visual Systems of Laboratory Rodents: Circadian Disruption and Behavioral Detection (Apr 2025)
- Salience Signaling and Stimulus Scaling of Ventral Tegmental Area Glutamate Neuron Subtypes (Jun 2025)
- Assessing the role of BNST GABA neurons in backward conditioned suppression (May 2025)
Torin K. Clark
Torin K. Clark’s recent work at the University of Colorado Boulder sits at the intersection of neurology, physiology, and cognitive neuroscience, with papers on motion sickness, galvanic vestibular stimulation, and trust inference in human-autonomy teaming.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Validating sensory conflict theory and mitigating motion sickness in humans with galvanic vestibular stimulation (Apr 2025)
- A review of parameter settings for galvanic vestibular stimulation in clinical applications (Feb 2025)
- An EEG-network-metric based approach to real-time trust inference in human-autonomy teaming (Sep 2025)
Christopher A. Lowry
Christopher A. Lowry’s recent publications at the University of Colorado Boulder focus on behavioral neuroscience, biological psychiatry, and molecular biology, examining the gut microbiota, pet contact, and genome-related questions in posttraumatic stress disorder.
Activity over the last year: 6 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Distinguishing the causative, correlative and bidirectional roles of the gut microbiota in mental health (Sep 2025)
- Pawsitive impact: How pet contact ameliorates adult inflammatory stress responses in individuals raised in an urban environment (Mar 2025)
- Preliminary Insights Into the Relationship Between the Gut Microbiome and Host Genome in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Jun 2025)
Roselinde H. Kaiser
Roselinde H. Kaiser’s work at the University of Colorado Boulder emphasizes cognitive neuroscience, experimental psychology, and clinical psychology, with recent studies on resting-state neuroimaging, depression, and neurocognitive risk and resilience in adolescents.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Review of Dynamic Resting‐State Methods in Neuroimaging: Applications to Depression and Rumination (Oct 2025)
- Dopaminergic frontostriatal pathways in major depressive disorder and childhood sexual abuse: a multimodal neuroimaging investigation (Sep 2025)
- Neurocognitive Biotypes of Risk and Resilience for Mood Disorders in Adolescents: Insights From Behavioral and Graph-Theoretic Network Markers (Jul 2025)
What University of Colorado Boulder's Neuroscience Community Is Working On
The most common subfields across this set of neuroscience research are experimental and cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, suggesting a strong community interest in how behavior, attention, memory, and brain function interact. Psychiatry and mental health, genetics, and molecular biology also appear repeatedly, pointing to active work on the biological underpinnings of mood disorders, developmental risk, impulsivity, and stress-related outcomes. Together, these patterns show a research landscape that moves comfortably between brain, behavior, and clinical relevance.- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology - seen across 5 of the featured researchers
- Cognitive Neuroscience - seen across 5 of the featured researchers
- Psychiatry and Mental health - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Genetics - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
- Molecular Biology - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
This collection highlights a research community working across multiple levels of neuroscience, from circuits and molecules to cognition and mental health. If you are exploring related literature or preparing your own manuscript, Resub can help streamline citation discovery, formatting, and submission prep so you can spend more time on the science.
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