Mikhail V. Pletnikov is professor and chair of the department of physiology and biophysics of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the University at Buffalo (UB).  He is also an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins 

University School of Medicine.  

 

He received his M.D. from I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy, Moscow, Russia and his Ph.D. in Normal Physiology from P.K. Anokhin Institute of Normal Physiology, Moscow, Russia. He completed his post-doctoral training in behavioral neuroimmunology under the joint mentorship of Dr. Timothy H. Moran and Dr. Kathryn M. Carbone of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Until 2020, he was a professor of the same department and a project leader at the Conte Center at Johns Hopkins funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH). 

 

His laboratories at UB and JHU study the neurobiology of major psychiatric disorders with the focus on cognitive impairments that permeate most of mental illnesses. We seek to identify the molecular mechanisms whereby adverse environmental factors, including drugs of abuse, interact with one another and/or genetic variants associated to affect brain and behavior development. We explore these mechanisms in a cell type- and circuit-specific manner, using methods of cell and molecular biology, neuroimmunology, neurochemistry, psycho-pharmacology and in vivo physiology. We are interested in the contribution of non-neuronal cells, e.g., astrocytes, to maturation of neuronal circuits involved in cognitive function. Both laboratories collaborate with a number of key investigators at iMIND and the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Center, including Drs. Sawa, Kamiya, 

Yolken, and Avramopoulos.  

 

Undergraduate, graduate students, fellows, and faculty members are welcome to participate in pre-clinical research training and/or collaborations.