Nikki Crowley

Director, Penn State Neuroscience Institute - University Park, Associate Professor of Biology, Huck Chair in Neural Engineering
Nikki Crowley
Nikki
Crowley
Director, Penn State Neuroscience Institute - University Park, Associate Professor of Biology, Huck Chair in Neural Engineering
Department Affiliations
External Affiliations
Interests
neuroscience
neurobiology
peptides
pharmacology
Address
Website
Crowley Lab
Biography

Education

B.S., Psychology and Statistics, James Madison University 

M.A., Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington 

Ph.D., Neurobiology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - School of Medicine 

 

Postdoctoral Training 

Penn State University, 2016-2017

 

Research Interests

Our work centers around understanding neuropeptides as unique signaling molecules in the brain. We investigate interactions between neuropeptides and neurotransmitters, how these systems are altered by things like biological sex, stress, drug exposure, and age, and how we can target peptide systems

 

Our big questions:

WHAT DO PEPTIDES DO?

how do peptides signal and under what conditions? and why? how does this relate to other peptides and neurotransmitters?

WHY DO PEPTIDES DO WHAT THEY DO?

what events alter peptidergic transmission? why and when?

CAN WE ALTER PEPTIDE SYSTEMS?

can we change the ways peptides act in vivo? can we target and manipulate them in meaningful ways?