Janice R. Naegele is a neuroscientist whose research seeks to identify novel treatments for epilepsy and brain damage. She has published extensively on applications of stem cell transplantation for neural repair, including articles on embryonic stem cell therapy for treating epilepsy and the synaptic mechanisms underlying seizure suppression by fetal inhibitory neuron transplants. Current work focuses on understanding how endogenous neurons in the hippocampus are altered after transplanting developing mouse or human GABAergic progenitors into this region of the brain, which is vital for forming new memories. Dr. Naegele recently co-authored a review on synaptic dysfunction in neurological diseases including epilepsy. In the Naegele laboratory a team of graduate students, working with undergraduates and technicians, investigates the therapeutic effects of stem cell transplantation through experimental approaches including behavior, electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry, viral-mediated gene overexpression, and optogenetics. 

Janice R. Naegele, Alan M Dachs Professor of Science in the Department of Biology and Program in Neuroscience and Behavior at Wesleyan University, is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College. Professor Naegele received her Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Neuroscience and did her postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University in the lab of Torsten Wiesel, where she worked with Colin Barnstable. After a three-year appointment as an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at Yale University School of Medicine, she joined the tenure-track faculty at Wesleyan University in 1991. She served as the Chair of Biology (2006-2009), Director of the Center for Faculty Career Development (2013-2016), Vice Chair of the Faculty (2016-17) and Chair of the Faculty (2017-2018).  Professor Naegele became the Dean of the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division at Wesleyan University on July 1, 2020. Her research was supported by Connecticut Innovations (formerly the Connecticut Regenerative Medicine Research Fund, the National Institutes of Health, and CURE Epilepsy. She is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.  Additional honors include the Louise Hansen Marshall Mentoring Award from the Society for Neuroscience (2015) and the Connecticut Women of Innovation award for Academic Innovation and Leadership.