Top Researchers
Top Neuroscience Researchers at Virginia Tech for 2026
Virginia Tech’s neuroscience community spans basic, clinical, and translational work, with researchers examining everything from memory and brain injury to autism, sensory processing, and developmental change. Looking across the last year, the picture is one of a department working across scales: molecules, cells, circuits, behavior, and real-world care.
Below, you’ll find a curated snapshot of researchers whose recent work stands out in this field, along with the subfields that appear most often across their publications.
Featured Researchers
Chenming Zhang
Chenming Zhang’s recent Virginia Tech work connects immunology, biotechnology, and molecular biology through vaccine strategies for substance use disorders and nanoparticle-based approaches.
Activity over the last year: 6 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Precision Adjuvant Strategies in Vaccine Development for Substance Use Disorders: Variability and Mechanistic Insights (Sep 2025)
- Safety and Toxicological Evaluation of Subunit Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin-Loaded Lipid–PLGA Hybrid Nanoparticles (sKLH-hNPs) as a Nanocarrier for an Opioid Use Disorder Vaccine (Jul 2025)
- Innate immune mechanisms underlying the efficacy of a next-generation nanoparticle-based vaccine against opioid use disorders (Oct 2025)
Timothy J. Jarome
Timothy J. Jarome has focused on genetics and cellular and molecular neuroscience, with studies of hippocampal memory, protein degradation, and DNA methylation in aging and synaptic plasticity.
Activity over the last year: 6 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Increasing degradation-independent linear polyubiquitin in the hippocampus enhances memory in young adult but not aged rats (Jun 2025)
- Increased DNA methylation of Igf2 in the male hippocampus regulates age-related deficits in synaptic plasticity and memory (Aug 2025)
- Reductions in protein degradation in the retrosplenial cortex regulate contextual fear memory formation in a sex-independent manner (Dec 2025)
Michelle H. Theus
Michelle H. Theus is exploring neurology and cellular and molecular neuroscience through brain-injury research, including endothelial-astrocyte interactions, microglial heterogeneity, and chronic cognitive deficits.
Activity over the last year: 6 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Interrogating mediators of single-cell transcriptional changes in the acute damaged cerebral cortex: Insights into endothelial-astrocyte interactions (Mar 2025)
- TNF-mediated hilar interneuron loss and aberrant granule cell migration are associated with chronic cognitive deficits following TBI (Dec 2025)
- Hematopoietic EphA4 deficiency alters microglial heterogeneity and improves chronic spatial memory after brain injury (Dec 2025)
Angela Scarpa
Angela Scarpa’s recent publications bridge cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology, centering on autism support, parent-focused interventions, and telehealth-based assessment.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- The role of self-advocacy and self-determination in positive adjustment for autistic adolescents and young adults: a mini-review (May 2025)
- Using a Mobile App to Support Parents of Children with Behavior Problems (Oct 2025)
- On the road or on the web: A pilot study of a mobile clinic and telehealth for autism assessment in rural communities. (Apr 2025)
Michelle L. Olsen
Michelle L. Olsen’s work in cellular and molecular neuroscience and genetics ranges from neuronal DNA damage in Rett syndrome to chemoreception and astrocyte transcription across development and aging.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Evidence of neuronal DNA damage in the brains of patients with Rett syndrome (Jul 2025)
- Retrotrapezoid nucleus chemoreception: mechanisms of function and contributions to disordered breathing in disease (Aug 2025)
- Temporal Profiling of Male Cortical Astrocyte Transcription Predicts Molecular Shifts From Early Development to Aging (Mar 2025)
Netta Gurari
Netta Gurari’s recent publications examine tactile perception and MR-compatible stimulation systems, including studies of arm dominance, sensory load, and brain injury applications.
Activity over the last year: 4 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Considerations for tactile perceptual assessments: impact of arm dominance, nerve, location, and sex in young and older adults (Mar 2025)
- Impact of an auditory cognitive load on consciously perceiving electrotactile stimuli in young adults (Sep 2025)
- Development and testing of an MR-compatible tactile stimulator system: Application for individuals with a brain injury (Sep 2025)
Adrienne L. Romer
Adrienne L. Romer’s work in cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology examines cognitive flexibility, reward processing, adolescent symptoms, stress exposure, and cerebellar function.
Activity over the last year: 4 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Study protocol for a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-masked mechanistic clinical trial of transdermal estrogen replacement in hypoestrogenic eating disorders to explore the role of estrogen on cognitive flexibility and reward processing (Apr 2025)
- Prospective Relations Between Cortical Thickness and Change in Internalizing Symptoms Are Moderated by Chronic Stress Exposure in Adolescents With Depression and Anxiety (Jul 2025)
- Cerebellar Functional Alterations During Executive Functioning Are Associated With General Psychopathology in a Cross-Diagnostic Sample (Dec 2025)
Thomas H. Ollendick
Thomas H. Ollendick’s recent Virginia Tech publications address autism, ADHD, and problematic internet use through clinical psychology and developmental psychopathology perspectives.
Activity over the last year: 5 indexed journal articles.
Top publications:
- Caught in the Web of the Net? Part I: Meta-analyses of Problematic Internet Use and Social Media Use in (Young) People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Apr 2025)
- Incidence, co-occurring psychiatric conditions, and sex differences in young people without intellectual impairment who are autistic, ADHD, or autistic–ADHD: a population-based cross-sectional study in Iceland (Jun 2025)
- Caught in the Web of the Net? Part II: A Motivation-Based Developmental Psychopathology Model for the Aberrant Internet Use in (Young) People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Jul 2025)
What Virginia Tech's Neuroscience Community Is Working On
The most common subfields point to a neuroscience community working across molecular biology, cellular and molecular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, clinical psychology, and genetics. That mix suggests active attention to both underlying biological mechanisms and the lived impacts of brain and behavior research. Across the featured work, researchers are studying memory, injury, autism, developmental change, and mental health while also building methods and tools that connect laboratory findings to clinical and community settings.- Molecular Biology - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
- Cognitive Neuroscience - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
- Clinical Psychology - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
- Genetics - seen across 2 of the featured researchers
These recent studies show a research community that is both methodologically broad and closely connected to pressing questions in neuroscience and mental health. If you want to keep tracking publication activity, spotting emerging themes, or preparing your own submissions with less friction, Resub can help streamline the workflow.
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