School of Medicine
Showing 11-20 of 88 Results
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Victor G. Carrión
John A. Turner Endowed Professor for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
On Leave from 10/10/2021 To 12/10/2021Current Research and Scholarly InterestsExamines the interplay between brain development and stress vulnerability via a multi-method approach that includes psychophysiology, neuroimaging, neuroendocrinology and phenomenology. Treatment development that focuses on individual and community-based interventions for stress related conditions in children and adolescents that experience traumatic stress.
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Sundari Chetty
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Chetty lab is interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. In particular, our group has been investigating the mechanisms underlying brain overgrowth or undergrowth in these disorders using human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technology. Changes in brain size often precede clinical symptoms, suggesting that understanding the underlying mechanisms regulating brain overgrowth or undergrowth could provide a window of opportunity for intervention or mitigation of symptoms.
Using hiPSCs from idiopathic patients as well as those with known genetic variations, we generate iPSC-derived cortical neural and oligodendroglial cells to investigate changes at the cellular, functional, and mechanistic levels using a broad range of techniques from RNA sequencing, genome editing, to functional assays in in vitro and in vivo models. The overarching goal of our research program is to identify novel therapeutic targets based on these mechanistic insights. -
Dan Christoffel
Affiliate, Psych/Major Laboratories and Clinical & Translational Neurosciences Incubator
BioOur experiences come to shape our future behaviors and can having lasting effects on our quality of life. My research aims to understand how chronic exposure to particular stimuli (i.e. stress, food, drugs) alters the functioning of specific neural circuits. Following identification of the relevant circuits, I investigate the mechanisms that regulate these experience-dependent changes. This ultimately aids in our understanding of how maladaptive changes in brain function occur and how these changes result in psychiatric disorders.
My current focus is on specific neural circuits involved in reward processing and feeding behavior. I am discovering how various excitatory inputs to the nucleus accumbens, a critical brain node involved in processing the salience of events, modulate reward - related behaviors utilizing converging lines of inquiry. Specifically, I observe neuronal activity in awake behaving mice, and assess the mechanisms underlying changes in activity with electrophysiology. Finally, I then modulate specific circuits using optogenetics, a technique that provides spatio-temporal control over genetically identified cells, to determine the causal role of these circuits in reward-related behavior. -
Luis de Lecea
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical and Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy lab uses molecular, optogenetic, anatomical and behavioral methods to identify and manipulate the neuronal circuits underlying brain arousal, with particular attention to sleep and wakefulness transitions. We are also interested in the changes that occur in neuronal circuits in conditions of hyperarousal such as stress and drug addiction.
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Karl Deisseroth
D. H. Chen Professor, Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsKarl Deisseroth's laboratory created and developed optogenetics, hydrogel-tissue chemistry (beginning with CLARITY), and a broad range of enabling methods. He also has employed his technologies to discover the neural cell types and connections that cause adaptive and maladaptive behaviors.
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Laramie Duncan
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study genetic and environmental effects on mental health. Much of our work is computational and it relies upon genetic data, collected from millions of individuals, from around the world. We use genetic approaches because the overall goal of the lab is to discover fundamental information about psychiatric disorders, and ultimately to build more rational approaches to classification, prevention, and treatment.
