Melissa Morales

Melissa Morales is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Binghamton University, part of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. She joined the university in 2020 after completing a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience and postdoctoral fellowships in Cellular Neuroscience and Neuromuscular Diseases. Her research focuses on inflammatory/immune mechanisms, preclinical drug testing for rare diseases like Duchenne muscular dystrophy and autoimmune myositis, and non-immune contributors such as mitochondrial dysfunction and ER stress.

Education:

• PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience, Binghamton University
• MS in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Binghamton University
• BA in Biological Sciences, SUNY College at Cortland

Research Interests: Her lab employs animal models, human patient samples, and molecular techniques to study disease pathogenesis and drug efficacy. Key areas include neuromuscular diseases, autoimmune mechanisms, and mitochondrial dysfunction's role in muscle weakness.

Funding: Supported by NIH grants and foundation funding. Recent work explores novel immunomodulatory therapies and gene therapy approaches.

Labs/Teams: Her laboratory integrates preclinical drug testing with translational research, focusing on drug delivery optimization and biomarker discovery in muscle diseases.