Joshua Gross
I am a neuropharmacologist with interests in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling, nutritional neuroscience, neuroendocrine physiology, and preclinical drug discovery.
University Park, PA 16802
I obtained my PhD from West Virginia University in Cellular & Integrative Physiology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Marc Caron at Duke University. As Director of the Nutritional Neuropharmacology Laboratory in the PSU Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Biobehavioral Health, I will investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying food reward and its downstream dysregulation of metabolism, particularly in response to obesogenic diets. My laboratory will employ an array of techniques — ranging from molecular pharmacology to behavioral analyses in genetically-engineered mice — to study how GPCR-dependent gut hormones, neurotransmitters, and dietary nutrients regulate food reward in the context of obesity, eating disorders, and diabetes.