Psychiatry Neuroscientists and Lab Links
Focus: Setting up gene methodologies (viral vectors) in animals as a neuroscience tool and potential gene therapy for rare childhood neurological disorders; interested in animal models of chronic pain
Focus: Investigating the development, function, and dysfunction of ascending touch and pain pathways
Key Publication: Choi S, Hachisuka J, Brett MA, Magee AR, Omori Y, Iqbal NU, Zhang D, DeLisle MM, Wolfson RL, Bai L, Santiago C, Gong S, Goulding M, Heintz N, Koerber HR, Ross SE, Ginty DD. Parallel ascending spinal pathways for affective touch and pain. Nature. 2020;587(7833):258-63.
Most Recent Publication: Zhang D, Turecek J, Choi S, Delisle M, Pamplona CL, Meltzer S, Ginty DD. C-LTMRs evoke wet dog shakes via the spinoparabrachial pathway. Science. 2024;386(6722):686-92.
Focus: Combining tools from cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry & developmental psychology to elucidate the brain circuits and mechanisms supporting language & cognition in humans
Focus: Researching blood-based biomarkers in individuals with Autism, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease and experimenting with blood-based biomarkers for diagnostic tests in clinical care; also investigating the effects of exercise in lowering the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and the role of the exposome in causing Alzheimer’s disease
Key Publication: Hewitson L, Mathews JA, Devlin M, Schutte C, Lee J, German DC. Blood biomarker discovery for autism spectrum disorder: A proteomic analysis. PLoS One. 2024;19(12):e0302951.
Most Recent Publication: Petersen ME, Flores-Aguilar L, Head E, Montoliu-Gaya L, Strydom A, Pape SE, Fortea J, Ashton NJ, Udeh-Momoh C, O'Bryant SE, German D, et al. Blood biomarkers in Down syndrome: Facilitating Alzheimer's disease detection and monitoring. Alzheimers Dement. 2025;21(1):e14364.
Focus: Studying how epigenetic pathways and gene expression regulate brain plasticity in the context of social behavior and aging by working with a unique ant species
Focus: Functioning of the hippocampus in learning and memory, studying the role of the entorhinal cortex and its circuits in modifying hippocampal function and temporal memory
Key Publication: Kitamura T, Ogawa SK, Roy DS, Okuyama T, Morrissey MD, Smith LM, Redondo RL, Tonegawa S. Engrams and circuits crucial for systems consolidation of a memory. Science. 2017;356(6333):73-78.
Most Recent Publication: Terranova JI, Yokose J, Osanai H, Ogawa SK, Kitamura T. Systems consolidation induces multiple memory engrams for a flexible recall strategy in observational fear memory in male mice. Nat Commun. 2023;14(1):3976.
Focus: Exploring cellular and synaptic memories encoded by experience-induced gene programs, under-standing their roles in behaviors and perturbations in neurodevelop-mental and psychiatric disorders
Key Publication: Sun X, Bernstein MJ, Meng M, Rao S, Sørensen AT, Yao L, Zhang X, Anikeeva PO, Lin Y. Functionally Distinct Neuronal Ensembles within the Memory Engram. Cell. 2020;181(2):410-423.e17.
Most Recent Publication: Xue J, Brawner AT, Thompson JR, Yelhekar TD, Newmaster KT, Qiu Q, Cooper YA, Yu CR, Ahmed-Braima YH, Kim Y, Lin Y. Spatiotemporal Mapping and Molecular Basis of Whole-brain Circuit Maturation. bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2024.01.03.572456.
Focus: Studying the role of double stranded DNA breaks in chromatin dynamics and how this regulates gene expression involved in learning, memory, and neuropsychiatric disease (e.g., addiction)
Psychiatry Imaging Facility
Focus: Neuronal circuit connectivity and supporting investigators to perform imaging and tissue dissection
Focus: Investigating the neural mechanisms of reward and punishment and their links to mental illnesses, such as depression and addiction
Key Publication: Shabel SJ, Proulx CD, Piriz J, Malinow R. Mood regulation. GABA/glutamate co-release controls habenula output and is modified by antidepressant treatment. Science. 2014;345(6203):1494-8.
Most Recent Publication: Shabel SJ, Wang C, Monk B, Aronson S, Malinow R. Stress transforms lateral habenula reward responses into punishment signals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116(25):12488-12493.
Focus: Biomarkers of psychotic illness from individuals with psychosis and animal models and psychosis across the life-span and analyzing biomarker databases
Focus: Neural dynamics for successful memory access and retrieval during episodic working memory tasks to elucidate the neural circuit mechanism in the hippocampal-cortical network