Teaching

Dr. Middleton directs and teaches neuroanatomy, neuroscience, and physiology across multiple LSU Health New Orleans educational programs, including medicine, dentistry, physician assistant studies, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, audiology, and nurse anesthesia.

He serves as Director of Allied Health Neuroanatomy (ANAT 6533/PHTH 7140) and as Brain Lab Director for Medical Neuropsych (MCLIN 232), Dental Gross Anatomy and Neuroanatomy (DENT 1101), and Physician Assistant Neuroanatomy (ANAT 6523). In these roles, he develops and maintains extensive specimen-based teaching resources, including brain buckets, coronal brain sections, and Mulligan-stained sections.

Dr. Middleton lectures in:

MCLIN 232 - Medical Neuropsych

ANAT 6533/PHTH 7140 - Allied Health Neuroanatomy

ANAT 6523 - Physician Assistant Neuroanatomy

DENT 1101 - Gross Anatomy and Neuroanatomy

DENT 1115 - Dental Physiology

NURS 7405 - Advanced Anatomy, Physiology and Pathophysiology for Nurse Anesthesia

ANAT 264 - Synaptic Organization of the Brain

PHYSIO 289 - Biostatistics for Graduate Students

CSI 100, CSI 200

His teaching topics include spinal cord and brainstem anatomy, cranial nerves, visual, auditory, and vestibular systems, eye movements, synaptic physiology, ion channel pharmacology, neural plasticity, and quantitative methods for neuroscience research.

Dr. Middleton also develops AI-assisted educational tools and conducts scholarship on the use of large language models in health professions education.

Education

1999
Bachelor os Science, Physics
University of Alberta-Edmonton, AB, Canada

2001
Master of Science, Physics
University of Alberta-Edmonton, AB, Canada

2007
Doctor of Physics
University of Ottawa-Ottawa, ON, Canada

2007-2010
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Neurobiology
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh, PA

2010-2013
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Otolaryngology
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh, PA

Publications

Kramer HM, Hibicke M, Middleton JW, Jaster AM, Kristensen JL, Nichols CD. Psychedelics produce enduring behavioral effects and functional plasticity through mechanisms independent of structural plasticity. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2026;51:641-649.

Wilson AB, Doubleday AF, Cheverko CM, et al. The Performance of ChatGPT and Other Large Language Models on Multiple-Choice Questions in Biomedical Disciplines: A Meta-Analysis. Anatomical Sciences Education. Accepted for publication, 2026.

Doubleday AF, Cheverko CM, Bolgova O, Mavrych V, Mohamed FRR, Westrick J, Juarez L, Rush E, Solka KA, Byram JN, Beacker R, Gomez V, Anak Ganeng BK, Hoffman LA, Roach VA, Brown KM, DeVaul N, Garnett CN, Herriott HL, Lufler RS, Mussell JC, Balta JY, Pascoe MA, Middleton JW, Duffy S, Stephens GC, Wilson AB. Temporal Trends in Large Language Model Accuracy: A Meta-Analysis of Multiple-Choice Question Performance in Dentistry and Dental Education. Journal of Dentistry. 2026;171:106724.

Kelley LK, Gilpin NW, Middleton JW. Chronic inflammatory pain and chronic THC vapor inhalation alter midbrain neuronal activity. Journal of Neurophysiology. 2025;134:80-93.

Kelley LK, Lightfoot SHM, Hill MN, Middleton JW, Gilpin NW. THC Vapor Inhalation Attenuates Hyperalgesia in Rats Using a Chronic Inflammatory Pain Model. Journal of Pain. 2024;25:104649.

Weera MM, Webster DA, Shackett RS, Middleton JW, Gilpin NW. Traumatic Stress-Induced Increases in Anxiety-like Behavior and Alcohol Self-Administration Are Mediated by Central Amygdala CRF1 Neurons That Project to the Lateral Hypothalamus. Journal of Neuroscience. 2023;43:8690-8699.

Jacotte-Simancas A, Middleton JW, Edwards S, Molina PE, Gilpin NW. Brain Injury Effects on Neuronal Activation and Synaptic Transmission in the Basolateral Amygdala of Adult Male and Female Wistar Rats. Journal of Neurotrauma. 2022;39:544-559.

Research

The Middleton Laboratory studies the cellular and synaptic mechanisms that govern information processing in neural circuits. Research in the laboratory combines in vitro brain slice electrophysiology, optical imaging, pharmacology, and computational analysis to investigate how cellular and synaptic mechanisms shape neural circuit function.

Current work focuses on how cytoskeletal motor proteins regulate dendritic structure and function and how these structural changes influence cortical network activity. Dr. Middleton is a Subproject PI in the LSU Health New Orleans NSF EPSCoR CREST Center for Adaptive Nanomotor Development. His project, Dendritic Remodeling in Cortical Circuits by Kinesin-5, investigates how the microtubule motor protein KIF11 (kinesin-5) regulates dendritic architecture, synaptic physiology, and cortical network dynamics using in vitro brain slice electrophysiology and flavoprotein autofluorescence imaging.

The CREST Center is supported by a five-year NSF EPSCoR CREST award focused on understanding how protein nanomotors regulate cellular structure and function.

Center website: https://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/nsfcrestandnola/default.aspx

In addition to his independent research program, Dr. Middleton has collaborated extensively on studies of pain, stress, traumatic brain injury, alcohol, cannabinoids, and psychedelics. He also contributes to medical education research focused on the application of large language models in anatomy and biomedical education.