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Director

Dr. Andrew McClellan received his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Maine, and his doctorate in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University. In 1990, he joined the faculty in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and he became a full professor in that department in 2000. He also is an adjunct professor in Biological Engineering. Dr. McClellan has participated in the MU Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program (INP) at a number of levels since its inception, including serving as Director of the INP since 2003. In July 2012, he became director of the UM Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP).

One of the long-term goals of Dr. McClellan's research program is to understand how neural networks in the nervous system produce locomotion behavior. Using the lamprey, a "lower" vertebrate, his laboratory has made significant contributions to our understanding of how networks in the brain and spinal cord are organized and operate in normal animals to produce locomotion. In addition, unlike "higher" vertebrates, including humans, the lamprey exhibits robust axonal regeneration following spinal cord injury that results in virtually complete recovery of locomotor behavior. His laboratory has identified some of the key cellular and molecular mechanisms that contribute to successful neural regeneration and behavioral recovery.

During his career, Dr. McClellan was funded continuously by NIH from 1985-2009, and also has received multiple grants from national and local agencies. He has published over 70 articles, mostly in the area of neurobiology but also a number of articles in biomedical engineering journals. He has served on several NIH, NSF, and NY State SCIRP grant review panels. Dr. McClellan was Section Editor for Brain Research Bulletin (development and regeneration section) from 1998-2011, has been a Review Editor for Frontiers in Neuroscience (Frontiers in Neural Circuits) since 2009, and has been a member of the Society for Neuroscience since 1975.

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