I study the structure and function of neural systems that regulate energy balance, neuroendocrine function and behavioral state in the mammalian brain. I am particularly interested in how neural circuits in the hypothalamus are organized, how they help control motivated behaviors and autonomic function, and how they respond to changes in nutrient status. A major goal of my laboratory is to map these circuits using atlas-based approaches.

• 2021 Award for Education in Neuroscience - Society for Neuroscience (11/11/2021)
• Outstanding Performance Award, 2021-2022 (Fall) - UTEP Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (09/16/2021)
• Faculty Research Mentoring Award - UTEP Graduate School (12/07/2020)
• Marshal of Faculty – College of Science - College of Science, UTEP (12/15/2019)
• Outstanding Performance Award, 2018–2019 (Spring) - UTEP Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (05/13/2019)
• Marshal of Students – College of Science - College of Science (12/15/2018)
• Official UTEP Nominee, 2019 Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award - College of Science > UTEP Faculty Senate > UTEP Office of the Provost (11/16/2018)
• Outstanding Performance Award, 2018–2019 (Fall) - UTEP Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (09/20/2018)
• Student's Choice Award for Outstanding Teaching - Department of Biological Sciences (05/09/2017)
• Faculty Research Mentoring Award - UTEP College of Science/Graduate School (11/17/2015)
• Outstanding Performance Award, 2013-2014 - UTEP Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (09/23/2014)
• Outstanding Performance Award, 2013-2014 - UTEP Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (06/04/2014)
• Informal Personal Commendation - President Diana Natalicio (05/18/2014)
• Travel Fellowship - Winter Conference on Brain Research (01/01/2010-12/31/2010)
• NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development Award - National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidneys Disorders (NIDDK), NIH (01/01/2008-12/31/2008)
• Co-recipient, eSciences Funding Award from Microsoft Research - Microsoft Corporation (01/01/2004-12/31/2004)
• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award - National Institute of Mental Health (01/01/2004-12/31/2004)
• Dean’s Dissertation Research Grant - Graduate Division, UC Riverside (01/01/2000-12/31/2000)
• Frances Marlatt Baugh Award for Outstanding Graduate Research - Division of Biomedical Sciences, UC Riverside (01/01/1998-12/31/1998)
• Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the Year - Department of Cell Biology & Neuroscience, UC Riverside (01/01/1998-12/31/1998)
• Graduate Student Research Award - Division of Biomedical Sciences, UC Riverside (01/01/1997-12/31/1997)
• Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the Year - Division of Biomedical Sciences, UC Riverside (01/01/1997-12/31/1997)
• James & Margaret Lesley Prize for Completed Original Research - Division of Biomedical Sciences, UC Riverside (01/01/1995-12/31/1995)

• Ph D in Neuroscience, University of California at Riverside (2002)
• MS in Biochemistry, University of California at Riverside (1996)
• BS in Biology, University of California at Riverside (1994)

• A historical perspective on training students to create standardized maps of novel brain structure: Newly-uncovered resonances between past and present research-based neuroanatomy curricula Neuroscience Letters 759 (2021), Arshad M. Khan, Christina E. D'Arcy, Jeffrey Olimpo.
• Female rats display greater nicotine withdrawal-induced cellular activation of a central portion of the interpeduncular nucleus versus males: A study of Fos immunoreactivity within provisionally assigned interpeduncular subnuclei Drug and Alcohol Dependence 221 (2021), Felix Matos-Ocasio, Veronika E. Espinoza, Paola Correa-Alfonzo, Arshad M. Khan, Laura E. O'Dell.
• Distributions of hypothalamic neuron populations co-expressing tyrosine hydroxylase and the vesicular GABA transporter in the mouse The Journal of Comparative Neurology 528 11 (2020), Kenichiro Negishi, Mikayla A. Payant, Kayla S. Schumacker, Gabor Wittman, Rebecca M. Butler, Ronald M. Lechan, Harry W. Steinbusch, Arshad M. Khan, Melissa J. Chee.
• Overexpression of corticotropin-releasing factor in the nucleus accumbens enhances the reinforcing effects of nicotine in female versus male rats Neuropsychopharmacology (2020), Kevin P. Uribe, Victor L. Corres, Briana E. Pinales, Rodolfo J. Flores, Bryan Cruz, Zhiying Shan, Adriaan W. Bruijnzeel, Arshad M. Khan, Laura E. O'Dell.
• Cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes associated with student engagement in a novel brain chemoarchitecture mapping course-based undergraduate research experience Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education 18 1 (2019), Christina E. D'Arcy, Anais Martinez, Arshad M. Khan, Jeffrey Olimpo.
• Mapping molecular datasets back to the brain regions they are extracted from: Remembering the native countries of hypothalamic expatriates and refugees Advances in Neurobiology 21 (2018), Arshad M. Khan, Alice H. Grant, Anais Martinez, Brendan S. Thatcher, Vishwanath T. Anekonda, Benjamin W. Thompson, Zachary S. Roberts, Daniel H. Moralejo, James E. Blevins.
• Contextual fear retrieval-induced Fos expression across early development in the rat: An analysis using established nervous system nomenclature ontology Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (2018), Anthony J. Santarelli, Arshad M. Khan, Andrew M. Poulos.
• Cryptic diversity in Rhampholeon boulengeri (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae), a pygmy chameleon from the Albertine Rift biodiversity hotspot Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution 122 May 2018 (2018), Daniel F. Hughes, Krystal A. Tolley, Mathias Behangana, Wilber Lukwago, Michele Menegon, J. M. Dehling, Jan Stipala, Colin R. Tilbury, Arshad M. Khan, Chifundera Kusamba, Eli Greenbaum.
• Computer vision evidence supporting craniometric alignment of rat brain atlases to streamline expert-guided, first-order migration of hypothalamic spatial datasets related to behavioral control Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 12 7 (2018), Arshad Khan, Jose M. Perez, Claire E. Wells, Olac Fuentes.
• Microarray analysis of aging-associated immune system alterations in the rostral Ventrolateral Medulla of F344 rats Physiological Genomics (2017), Sivasai Balivada, Chanran K. Ganta, Yongqing Zhang, Hitesh N. Pawar, Richard J. Ortiz, Kevin G. Becker, Arshad Khan, Michael Kenney.
• Tracking the coupling of external signals to intracellular programs controlling peptide synthesis and release in hypothalamic neuroendocrine neurons Elsevier 2 (2017), Arshad Khan, Ellen M. Walker, Alan G. Watts.

• Viral tracing of feeding control circuits (2019), Volume Ann Arbor, Michigan, Arshad Khan.
• High spatial resolution mapping of anorexigenic neuropeptides expressed in the hypothalamus: A chemoarchitecture study in the adult male rat (2018), Volume San Diego, CA, K A. Burnett, Briana E. Pinales, Eric J. Perez, D Rodarte, A M. Cardona, K J. Galvan, G G. Hernandez, A C. Lezama, Karen T. Lorenzana, A Vasquez, P Parada, J I. Paz, J Rascon, R Thomason, K Bautista, Jessica Barnesq, Christina D'Arcy, Arshad Khan.
• Automatic derivation of atlas plate correspondences between rat brain atlases using feature-based matching and dynamic programming (2018), Volume San Diego, California, Jose G. Perez, Olac Fuentes, Arshad Khan.
• Hypothalamic chemoarchitecture of the adult male rat: High spatial resolution mapping of copeptin, LIM homeobox 6, and melanin-concentrating hormone (2018), Volume San Diego, CA, Anais Martinez, Luisa M. Barraza Escudero, D Castro, S A. Chavez, M Coronado, S Gallegos, Andrea Pineda Sanchez, M S. Ruiz, V G. Ruiz, Kenichiro Negishi, Arshad Khan.
• Organization and functional recruitment of neuronal populations in rat prefrontal cortex that project to the basolateral amygdalar nuclei: A combined retrograde tracing and Fos activation study of context fear conditioning across development (2018), Volume San Diego, CA, Anthony J. Santarelli, Arshad Khan, Andrew M. Poulos.
• Hypothalamic Neuroendocrine Function: Hindbrain Control and Time of Day Differences During Glycemic Challenges (2018), Volume Faculté des Sciences, Mohammad V University, Rabat, Morocco, Arshad Khan.
• Linking Transcriptomic, Proteomic and Peptidomic Datasets of the Circadian System to Brain Locations (2018), Volume Faculté des Sciences, Mohammad V University, Rabat, Morocco, Arshad Khan.
• Hypothalamus – Structure and Function (2018), Volume Faculté des Sciences, Mohammad V University, Rabat, Morocco, Arshad Khan.
• Mapping of Circadian System Circuits in Rodents (2018), Volume Faculté des Sciences, Mohammad V University, Rabat, Morocco, Arshad Khan.
• Diencephalic and mesencephalic neurons projecting to the ventral tegmental area, with special reference to the lateral hypothalamic area: A quantitative mapping study in the adult rat (2017), Volume Washington, D.C., Ellen M. Walker, Berenise De Haro, Jordan A. Schueler, Savanna D. Gonzalez, Jazmine Arnal, Soyoung Jeon, Richard H. Thompson, Arshad Khan.
• Further elaboration of the distribution of Agouti-Related Peptide-immunoreactive axons using a canonical rat brain atlas in the adult male rat: High spatial resolution analysis of rostral forebrain regions (2017), Volume Washington, D.C., Briana E. Pinales, Joel D. Hahn, Arshad Khan.
• Hypothalamic chemoarchitecture of the adult male rat: Further elaboration of results from a high spatial resolution longitudinal mapping study (2017), Volume Washington, D.C., Grace Flores-Robles, Kenichiro Negishi, Robert A. Pacheco, Andrea Enriquez, Ezequiel Acevedo, Brandon Avila, Erick Dominguez, Efrain E. Hernandez, Arturo Medina, Elizabeth Mejia, Marlina A. Novoa, Antonio T. Provencio, Fe D. Renteria, Evelyn Sifuentes, Yolat Tellez, Arshad Khan.
• Immunohistochemical study and atlas mapping of neuronal populations that co-express tyrosine hydroxylase and the vesicular GABA transporter in the hypothalamus (2017), Volume Washington, D.C., Melissa J. Chee, Kenichiro Negishi, Kayla S. Schumacker, Rebecca M. Butler, Arshad Khan.
• Mapping the chemoarchitecture of the arcuate hypothalamic nucleus in the adult male rat to a canonical brain atlas (2017), Volume Washington, D.C., Sarah Rodarte, Anais Martinez, Teresa N. Tran, Briana E. Pinales, Arshad Khan.
• Mapping the connections between the medial prefrontal cortex and the diencephalon: A combined anterograde and retrograde tract-tracing study in the adult male rat (2017), Volume Washington, D.C., Kenichiro Negishi, Jeannette Almeraz, Arshad Khan.
• Towards automatic registration of histological data to canonical brain atlases (2017), Volume Washington, D.C., Jose G. Perez, Olac Fuentes, Arshad Khan.
• Functional Tracing Using Opto- & Chemogenetic Approaches (2017), Volume Faculté des Sciences, Mohammad V University, Rabat, Morocco, Arshad Khan.
• Atlas Mapping Techniques (2017), Volume Faculté des Sciences, Mohammad V University, Rabat, Morocco, Arshad Khan.
• Multi-label Immunohistochemistry: Methods & Applications (2017), Volume Faculté des Sciences, Mohammad V University, Rabat, Morocco, Arshad Khan.
• Trans-synaptic (Viral) & Genetic Tracing Techniques (2017), Volume Faculté des Sciences, Mohammad V University, Rabat, Morocco, Arshad Khan.
• Brain circuits regulating energy balance: Trailblazing through an undiscovered country (2017), Volume Seattle, WA, Arshad Khan.
• Brain circuits regulating energy balance: Trailblazing through an undiscovered country (2017), Volume Albany, New York, Arshad Khan.

• C06: Build-out of an Imaging and Behavioral Neuroscience Facility for Hispanic Health Disparities at UTEP
• IGNITE: Interdisciplinary Group for Neuroscience Investigation, Training & Education.
• SC1: Interrogating brain circuits that control feeding caused by fasting or by craving
• UTEP PERSIST: UTEP Program to Educate and Retain Students In STEM Tracks