Migraine headache is one of the most debilitating disorders in the world and treatments are insufficient. The Sowers laboratory studies the neurocircuitry underlying migraine and post-traumatic headache. Our preclinical laboratory focuses heavily on the sensory abnormalities associated with migraine and post-traumatic headache, including photophobia, spontaneous pain and touch hypersensitivity. Our lab’s research uses functional MRI, optogenetic and DREADD approaches to better understand the circuits contributing to those sensory abnormalities. We recently identified the deep cerebellar nuclei as possible sensory integration centers underlying sensory abnormalities in migraine. We are a VA associated lab and part of the VA Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Visual Loss with a special emphasis on Veteran related problems in headache. Post-traumatic headache is similar to migraine and affects about 50% of Veterans who saw combat in war zones. Our hope is to one day identify brain regions that can be manipulated in humans to treat headache. Our promotion of a multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach to tackle these important questions in headache medicine offers trainees room to grow and become wonderful independent scientists.
Dr. Sowers and colleagues Dr. Russo and Dr. Hultman were highlighted in Medicine Iowa for their combined specialties in migraine research using a precision approach to connect individual patients with treatments. Read the article here: https://medicineiowa.org/spring-2026/headache-resilience
Dr. Sowers was featured in Medicine Iowa, a publication of University of Iowa Healthcare featuring stories of research and education at Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. View the article here: https://medicineiowa.org/fall-2025/levi-sowers-shedding-light-migraine-and-post-traumatic-headache
Iowa Neuroscience Institute Events
Neuroscience and Pharmacology Faculty Seminar
Risk Factors for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias
Snehajyoti Chatterjee, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Pharmacology
University of Iowa
2026 Neuroscience Research Day Keynote Speaker: Constanza J. Cortes, PhD
Keynote Speaker Announcement: Constanza J. Cortes, PhD
2026 Neuroscience Research Day – Monday, November 2, 2026
We are excited to welcome Constanza J. Cortes, PhD, Assistant Professor of Gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, to the University of Iowa for this year's Neuroscience Research Day.
Dr. Cortes's research explores the intersection of exercise, brain aging, skeletal muscle, and Alzheimer’s disease, with a particular focus on how...
Carver College of Medicine Events
ACB Seminar Series - Dr. Amy Ryan
Dr. Amy Ryan, an Associate Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology & Internal Medicine will present a seminar titled "Targeting IGFBP3 to Preserve Airway Stem Cell Function Following Genotoxic Injury."
REDCap MyCap Training
This is the fifth step in the REDCap training series. In this training, we will discuss using the MyCap mobile app for data collection. We will cover features such as:
Creating participants
Creating tasks and schedules
Active tasks and their unique data output
Direct messages and announcements
This training is a demo and not hands-on. After this training, you will have a basic understanding of the MyCap mobile app for REDCap.
Register by clicking the virtual event link above or by going here: https:/...
Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Program Thesis Defense Seminar: Avery Van De Water
Avery Van De Water is a PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Graduate Program. Their research has been conducted in Dorit Kliemann's laboratory.
If you are unable to attend in person, please consider showing your support and attending via Zoom. Please email britt-hokanson@uiowa.edu for the zoom link.
REDCap Data Handling
This is the sixth and final step in the REDCap training series. In this training we won't use REDCap at all. Instead, we will cover ways to view and manage your exported REDCap data in Microsoft Excel and Sublime Text such as:
Populating data from one Excel sheet to another with vlookup()
Seeing specific data with column sorting and filtering
Ensuring data is cohesive by creating tables
Looking at how data relates to other data by creating pivot tables
Transforming unusable data to a usable format...
Neuroscience and Pharmacology Faculty Seminar
Risk Factors for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias
Snehajyoti Chatterjee, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Pharmacology
University of Iowa