Our Faculty

headshot of Melissa Morales

Melissa Morales

Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Background

Melissa Morales joined the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Binghamton University in 2020. She received her PhD in behavioral neuroscience from Binghamton University under the supervision of Linda Spear and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cellular neuroscience at Wake Forest School of Medicine with Brian McCool. As a T32 postdoctoral trainee, she was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health. Her graduate and postdoctoral training used animal models to study the behavioral and neurophysiological changes that occur following alcohol dependence and how that might contribute to relapse. She then expanded her research to study rare neuromuscular diseases, including genetic and autoimmune muscle diseases. Morales’s current research focuses on identifying novel therapeutic targets, drug repurposing and identifying strategies to enhance gene therapy in rare neuromuscular diseases.

Education

  • PhD, Binghamton University
  • MS, Binghamton University
  • BA, SUNY College at Cortland

Research Interests

  • Myositis
  • Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
  • Mechanisms underlying neuromuscular diseases
  • Behavioral and Cellular Neuroscience