Dr. Sonya Bierbower, Ph.D.

Dr. Sonya M. Bierbower is an associate professor. She graduated with a B.S. in biology from the University of Georgia, and as an undergraduate, she was involved in research areas of motor task learning behavior in capuchin monkeys and protein purification in nitrogen fixing bacteria. 

After graduating with honors from UGA, Dr. Bierbower completed a thesis master’s degree with Highest Distinction from DePaul University. Her research focused on the pathophysiology of parasite/host relationships and the role of parasite manipulation of neuromodulators. Dr. Bierbower then earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky with her doctorate research focused on environmental and physiological effects on neuronal synaptic transmission and neural circuitry. 

Following her doctorate, Dr. Bierbower was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Physiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Her postdoctoral research studied the augmentation of the KCNQ potassium channel in a stroke-induced brain injury and a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a vertebrate model. While at UTHSCSA, Dr. Bierbower was awarded a NIH T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and a NRSA F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship. 

Following her postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Bierbower accepted a faculty position at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. As a tenured professor at WPU, she had an active undergraduate and graduate research program focused on TBI, excitotoxicity and cannabinoid receptors role as a therapeutic approach to injury. In 2022, she accepted the position at USMA and is active in research focused on understanding the microbiome, immune response, synaptic transmission and neural circuitry using invertebrate models.