A.J. Robison Named MSU Research Foundation Professor

November 3, 2026

IIT-affiliated faculty member, A.J. Robison, was recently named a MSU Research Foundation Professor, a designation given to outstanding faculty who demonstrate excellence in research and teaching while enhancing the prominence of the institution. Robison is now the fourth IIT-affiliated faculty member to be given the prominent distinction. He was also named Barnett Rosenberg Endowed Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience.

Robison received his Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics in 2005 and performed the bulk of his postdoctoral work with Dr. Eric Nestler at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. In the Nestler lab, AJ studied the transcriptional mechanisms of addiction and depression, developing skills in molecular biology, biochemistry, electrophysiology, and mouse behavior. He joined Michigan State University in the Department of Physiology in 2013 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2019 and Full Professor in 2024. Since 2022, he has been the Director of the MSU Neuroscience Program.

Robison studies gene transcription and epigenetic regulation in neuronal and immune cells to better understand etiology and treatment of addiction, depression, allergy, and infection. His lab is working to uncover novel mechanisms through which drugs, stress, and hormones regulate specific brain circuits to cause psychiatric disease. His group collaborates with labs all over the U.S. to create novel drug compounds that could become new treatments for these diseases.