The Godwin laboratory is focused on the problem of how the nervous system controls its own sensory input in different behavioral states and how this control can be disrupted in diseases of the central nervous system.

The thalamus supports normal sensory perception as well as complex brain rhythms that can become disordered in CNS diseases.

We are a translational neuroscience laboratory, examining complex questions using approaches ranging from studying the molecular biology of ion channels to studying epilepsy using human imaging methods.

Award-Winning Laboratory

We are honored to have won the following awards:

  • McKnight Foundation "Technological Innovations in Neuroscience" Award
  • WFU "New Investigator" Award
  • WFU Student Government Association "Graduate Faculty Excellence" Award
  • "Outstanding Alumni Award," University of Alabama Birmingham
  • NSF/Science Magazine "International Science and Engineer Visualization Challenge"

In addition, our trainees have won a number of awards.

Engaging the Public

Our lab places a high responsibility on engaging the public to communicate the importance of what we do as scientists.

One such engagement is a series of comics originally published in the design magazine Ambidextrous, now published as a regular feature in Scientific American: Mind. This series is by Dwayne Godwin, PhD and Jorge Cham (author of "PhD Comics").

Topics in the past have included: Time and the Brain, Food for Thought, Secret Thoughts, Brain Development, and Love.

We invite you to learn more about the great work we are doing at the Godwin Lab.