Rate My Professor Gabriela Popescu

Gabriela K. Popescu is Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Jacobs School of Medicine andamp; Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, a position she has held since 2014, following appointments as Associate Professor from 2011 to 2013 and Assistant Professor from 2006 to 2010. She earned her PhD in Biochemistry from University at Buffalo in 1999, MS in Biochemistry from the University of Bucharest in 1985, and completed postdoctoral training including a NIDA F32 Fellowship in Ion Channel Biophysics at University at Buffalo in 2004, an internship in Fast Application Techniques at Yale University in 2005, and a sabbatical in Structural Biology at Columbia University and Harvard University in 2017. Her academic career is marked by continuous NIH funding since 2003 and leadership in mentoring graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and participation in programs such as the Clinical and Translational Science Institute KL2 Mentored Career Development Program.

Popescu's research centers on the molecular neurophysiology of NMDA receptors, exploring their activation pathways, modulatory mechanisms, structure-function relationships, ion permeation, and signaling in synaptic transmission, plasticity, learning, memory, and disorders including neurodegeneration, stroke, chronic pain, addiction, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. Utilizing advanced techniques such as patch-clamp electrophysiology, single-channel recording, cryo-EM, and kinetic modeling, her laboratory has delivered seminal contributions, including cryo-EM snapshots of NMDA receptor activation (Abbott et al., Science Advances, 2025), dynamic control of NMDA receptor Ca2+ permeability by modulators (Weaver and Popescu, PNAS, 2025), allosteric inhibition by low-dose ketamine (Abbott et al., Molecular Psychiatry, 2024), and calcium- and calmodulin-dependent inhibition (Iacobucci and Popescu, Biophysical Journal, 2024). She has authored numerous publications in top journals and chapters such as NMDA Receptors in The Oxford Handbook of Neuronal Ion Channels (2019). Recognized for excellence, Popescu received the NINDS Outstanding Investigator Award (2023), Sharona Gordon Award for Transformational Leadership (2023), UB Exceptional Scholar Sustained Achievement Award (2021), American Heart Association Established Investigator Award (2012), and UB Exceptional Scholar Young Investigator Award (2010). She served as President of the Biophysical Society (2024-2025), on the AAAS Board of Directors (2025-), Chair of the AAMC Council of Faculty and Academic Societies (2019), and Associate Editor for Biophysical Journal (2020-present), among various NIH review panels and university committees. Her work has profoundly influenced biophysical and neuroscientific understanding of glutamatergic synapses.