Rate My Professor Gabriela Popescu

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.