2025 Applications

Submissions for the 2025 series are now open!

The University of Iowa Neuroscience and Pharmacology Postdoc Committee invites postdoctoral scholars from across the country to submit applications to participate in our Spring and Fall 2024 NEURO-ROOT Postdoctoral Seminar Series. Selected speakers will present a virtual seminar for the university's pharmacology and neuroscience community and meet one-on-one, virtually, with our faculty, postdocs, and grad students. This is a valuable opportunity to showcase research, build your CV, and network with colleagues in the neuroscience and pharmacological sciences. Postdocs from all areas of neuroscience and pharmacology are encouraged to apply!  Individuals of underrepresented groups are especially encoursged to apply.

Submit your application here!

Please follow the link to complete the APPLICATION.  Submit the following documents as a single PDF:

  • Research statement describing your current work, future goals, and the research you will focus on in your seminar (single page)
  • Current CV or Biosketch

Applications will be open until July 1, 2025.  Selected speakers will be notified on a rolling basis.  Seminars will begin in late August and run through Spring 2026.  Requests for additional information may be sent to jon-resch@uiowa.edu.

Postdoctoral Selection Committee


  • Jon Resch, PhD (Faculty)
  • Val Botero, PhD
  • Louis Kolling, PhD
  • Bertha Martin, PhD
  • Kavita Solanki, PhD
  • Ruixing (Roy) Wang, PhD
Laurel Seemiller photo

Laurel Seemiller, PhD

Department of Biology
Pennsylvania State University

Uncovering the role of the neuropeptide somatostatin, in sexually divergent behavioral consequences of adolescent binge drinking

Tyler Nguyen photo

Tyler Nguyen, PhD

Research Assistant Professor
Department of Anesthesia 
Indiana University School of Medicine
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) Associated Inflammation and Chronic Pain: Through the Lens of in vivo

Sarah Ayash photo

Sarah Ayash, PhD

Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research
Neural Basis of Resilience to Social Stress
Mainz, Germany

See our latest Postdoctoral Seminars

FY24

Jennifer Kong, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington
Talk Title: Cultivating Research Success: Harnessing Funding Opportunities and Crafting Fundable Grant Proposals

Raajaram (Raaj) Gowrishankar, PhD, Dept of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, University of Washington
Talk Title: Dynamic Endogenous Opioid Neuromodulation Shapes Goal-directed Behavior

Yang He, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
Talk Title: Deciphering Obesity: The Role of Serotonin 2C Receptor

Li Wang, PhD, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco
Talk Title: Development of the Human Neocortex: from Progenitors to Circuits

FY23

Xuyu Qian, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital
Talk Title: Modeling Neurodevelopmental Disorders Using Human iPSC-derived Brain Organoids

Caleb Browne, PhD, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto)
Talk Title: Molecular Signatures of Relapse Vulnerability in Rodent Models of Opioid Use Disorder

Chandrasekar Borkar, PhD, Psychology Department, Tulane University
Talk Title: Prefrontal cortex to the central amygdala circuit in the regulation of defense behaviors in mice

FY22

Calvin Carter, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa (current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience & Pharmacology, University of Iowa)
Talk Title: Dive in and Startup!: How to take an idea from bench-side to bed-side through a startup company

Anel Jaramillo, PhD, Vanderbilt University (current position: Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences Dept., University of Kentucky)
Talk Title: Exploration of parabrachial control of the extended amygdala during stress and alcohol abstinence

Antentor Hinton, Jr., PhD, Vanderbilt University (current position: Assistant Professor, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University)
Talk Title: Technostress, Awfulizing, and Finding your lane with social media in STEMM

Amelia Douglass, PhD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
Talk Title: The neural basis for fasting-induced activation of the HPA axis

Brielle Ferguson, PhD, Dept of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University (current position: Assistant Professor, Genetics and Neurology, Harvard Medical School)
Talk Title: Attention Dysfunction in Scn8a +/- Mice: Implications for Absence Epilepsy and ASD

Stephen Zhang, PhD, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University (current position: Assistant Professor, Biochemical Computation, NYU Center for Neural Science) 
Talk Title: Dopaminergic Control of Mating Drive Over Minutes and Days