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Neuroscience
USA
2026

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Neuroscience

D-Index
162
Citations
89483
World Ranking
108
National Ranking
70

Medicine

D-Index
161
Citations
85259
World Ranking
759
National Ranking
431

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Neuroscience in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Neuroscience in United States Leader Award
  • 2016 - Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, University of Louisville
  • 2009 - APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology, American Psychological Association
  • 1982 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

Steven F. Maier is affiliated with the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States. Their research predominantly spans the fields of Neuroscience and Medicine, with a strong focus on various subfields including Neurology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Biological Psychiatry, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, and Physiology.

The main topics addressed in their work include:

  • Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Tryptophan and Brain Disorders
  • Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
  • Exercise and Physiological Responses
  • Multiple Sclerosis Research Studies
  • Long-Term Effects of COVID-19

Their recent publications are as follows:

  • "SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 subunit induces neuroinflammatory, microglial and behavioral sickness responses: Evidence of PAMP-like properties", 2021, published in Brain Behavior and Immunity
  • "Postoperative cognitive dysfunction is made persistent with morphine treatment in aged rats", 2020, published in Neurobiology of Aging
  • "Acute stress induces chronic neuroinflammatory, microglial and behavioral priming: A role for potentiated NLRP3 inflammasome activation", 2020, published in Brain Behavior and Immunity
  • "Aging and miR-155 in mice influence survival and neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury", 2021, published in Brain Behavior and Immunity
  • "From helplessness to controllability: toward a neuroscience of resilience", 2023, published in Frontiers in Psychiatry

The frequent coauthors collaborating with Steven F. Maier include:

  • Linda R. Watkins
  • Matthew G. Frank
  • Michael V. Baratta
  • Kenner C. Rice
  • Jayson B. Ball

Major venues for their publications consist of:

  • Brain Behavior and Immunity
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Neurobiology of Aging
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry
  • Journal of Neuroscience

Recognition of Steven F. Maier's contributions includes receiving the following awards:

  • Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, University of Louisville, 2016
  • APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2009
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1982

Best Publications

  • Learned helplessness: Theory and evidence.

    Steven F. Maier;Martin E. P. Seligman

  • Failure to Escape Traumatic Shock

    Martin E. Seligman;Steven F. Maier

  • Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control

    Christopher Peterson;Steven F. Maier;Martin E. P. Seligman

  • Cytokines for psychologists: implications of bidirectional immune-to-brain communication for understanding behavior, mood, and cognition.

    Steven F. Maier;Linda R. Watkins

  • Glial activation: a driving force for pathological pain.

    Linda R. Watkins;Erin D. Milligan;Steven F. Maier

  • Medial prefrontal cortex determines how stressor controllability affects behavior and dorsal raphe nucleus.

    J Amat;M V Baratta;E Paul;S T Bland

  • Beyond Neurons: Evidence That Immune and Glial Cells Contribute to Pathological Pain States

    Linda R. Watkins;Steven F. Maier

  • Pathological pain and the neuroimmune interface

    Peter M. Grace;Mark R. Hutchinson;Steven F. Maier;Linda R. Watkins

  • Immune activation: the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines in inflammation, illness responses and pathological pain states

    Linda R. Watkins;Steven F. Maier;Lisa E. Goehler

  • Stressor controllability and learned helplessness: the roles of the dorsal raphe nucleus, serotonin, and corticotropin-releasing factor.

    Steven F. Maier;Linda R. Watkins

  • Spinal Glia and Proinflammatory Cytokines Mediate Mirror-Image Neuropathic Pain in Rats

    Erin D. Milligan;Carin Twining;Marucia Chacur;Joseph Biedenkapp

  • Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience.

    Steven F. Maier;Martin E. P. Seligman

  • Minocycline attenuates mechanical allodynia and proinflammatory cytokine expression in rat models of pain facilitation.

    Annemarie Ledeboer;Evan M. Sloane;Erin D. Milligan;Matthew G. Frank

  • GLIA: A novel drug discovery target for clinical pain

    Linda R. Watkins;Steven F. Maier

  • Cytokine-to-brain communication: A review & analysis of alternative mechanisms

    Linda R. Watkins;Steven F. Maier;Lisa E. Goehler;Lisa E. Goehler

  • Microglia serve as a neuroimmune substrate for stress-induced potentiation of CNS pro-inflammatory cytokine responses.

    Matthew G. Frank;Michael V. Baratta;David B. Sprunger;Linda R. Watkins

  • Coping and immunosuppression: inescapable but not escapable shock suppresses lymphocyte proliferation.

    Mark L. Laudenslager;Susan M. Ryan;Robert C. Drugan;Richard L. Hyson

  • Dynamic microglial alterations underlie stress-induced depressive-like behavior and suppressed neurogenesis

    T Kreisel;M G Frank;T Licht;R Reshef

  • Unpredictable and Uncontrollable Aversive Events

    Martin E.P. Seligman;Steven F. Maier;Richard L. Solomon

  • "Brain-specific" nutrients: a memory cure?

    Mark A. McDaniel;Steven F. Maier;Gilles O. Einstein

  • Psychoneuroimmunology. The interface between behavior, brain, and immunity

    Steven F. Maier;Linda R. Watkins;Monika Fleshner

Frequent Co-Authors

Linda R. Watkins
Linda R. Watkins University of Colorado Boulder
Monika Fleshner
Monika Fleshner University of Colorado Boulder
Erin D. Milligan
Erin D. Milligan University of New Mexico
Mark R. Hutchinson
Mark R. Hutchinson University of Adelaide
Lisa E. Goehler
Lisa E. Goehler University of Virginia
Sondra T. Bland
Sondra T. Bland University of Colorado Denver
Kenner C. Rice
Kenner C. Rice National Institutes of Health
Jerry W. Rudy
Jerry W. Rudy University of Colorado Boulder
Ronald P.A. Gaykema
Ronald P.A. Gaykema University of Virginia
Terrence Deak
Terrence Deak Binghamton University

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