Steven Tran, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Office: H-710E, Lab: H-605E

Phone: 657-278-5868

Dr. Steven Tran received his BSc in Biology and Psychology and his PhD in Cell & Systems Biology from the University of Toronto. His doctoral research examined the effects of alcohol on behavior and brain neurochemistry in adult zebrafish. He then completed postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he conducted a genetic screen in larval zebrafish to identify genes and neural circuits that regulate sleep. Dr. Tran joined the Department of Psychology in 2025 as an Assistant Professor and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications on zebrafish behavior.

Steven Tran photo

Research Interests

My lab uses larval zebrafish to investigate the neural mechanisms that regulate vertebrate sleep. We are currently examining how embryonic exposure to drugs such as nicotine, ethanol, and caffeine disrupts sleep patterns and underlying neural circuits. To do this, we combine behavioral pharmacology with high-throughput, automated video-tracking systems that allow us to simultaneously measure sleep in 96 freely swimming larvae.

Fun Facts

I am Canadian! Born and raised in Toronto, I moved to California in 2016. Outside of research and teaching, I enjoy playing volleyball and snowboarding.

Publications

Tran S, Emtage J, Zhang, C., Liu X, Lecoeuche M, Andreev A, Oikonomou G, Garcia B, Cammidge T, Gonzales C, Hurley H, *Yap M, Wang F, Li S, Wang, T, Ahrens MB, Saxena R, Chou, TF, Xu M, Liu Q, & Prober DA. stk32a links sleep homeostasis to suppression of sensory and motor systems. BioRxiv [Preprint]. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.09.675098

Tran S, Prober DA (2022). Validation of Candidate Sleep Disorder Risk Genes Using Zebrafish. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 15:873520. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2022.873520

Tran S, Prober (2022). Methods to Study Sleep in Zebrafish. In: Hirota, T., Hatori, M., Panda, S. (eds) Circadian Clocks. Neuromethods, vol 186, Humana, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2577-4_12

Tran S, Facciol A, Nowicki M, Chatterjee D, Gerlai R (2017) Acute alcohol exposure increases tyrosine hydroxylase expression and dopamine synthesis in zebrafish. Behavioral Brain Research 317: 237-241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2016.09.048

Tran S, Facciol A, Gerlai R (2016) Alcohol induced behavioral changes in zebrafish: The role of dopamine D2-like receptors. Psychopharmacology 233:2119-2128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4264-3