This research project is within the field of Biological Anthropology, specifically Primatology. In previous years, teams of researchers collected spatial data of observed individuals through Garmin handheld GPS units on two communities of White-Bellied spider monkeys at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Amazonian Ecuador. The spatial data has been used to build representations of home […]
C51: Characterizing the persistent impacts of chronic early life stress on fear and anxiety-related behaviors in adult male and female rats
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects nearly 8 million people and anxiety disorders affect nearly 40 million people in the United States, making them the most common subtype of mental health diagnoses. Early life stress (ELS) exposure yields substantial vulnerability to developing PTSD and anxiety later in life. Determining the impact of ELS requires a closer […]
C53: The Effects of Early Life Stress on Alcohol Drinking Behavior in Mice
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a prevalent issue in the United States affecting roughly 30 million people and 894,000 adolescents with a strong correlation linked to adolescent exposure to alcohol. Early Life Stress (ELS) has been shown to be heavily comorbid with AUD and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). People diagnosed with PTSD are three times […]
C54: Compounding Effects of Early Life Malnutrition and Alcohol drinking in C57 Mice
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and malnutrition are two growing public health issues in the United States and the world. 140, 557 individuals die from excessive alcohol use each year and one in nine people are hungry and undernourished. Moreover, studies have shown that individuals who are malnourished are more likely to engage in reward-seeking behaviors […]
C55: Investigating viral genes as possible sensitizers for drug resistant cancer cells
Chemotherapy and radiation induce cancer cell death through DNA damage; however, the prevalence of drug-resistant cancer presents a substantial treatment barrier. Previous investigations have connected the overexpression of DNA dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), a crucial enzyme in the DNA damage response (DDR), to chemotherapy resistant cancer cells. There has been much evidence to indicate that […]
C56: Sex Differences in Safety and Threat Learning: An Evaluation of BNST-projecting Neurons From the PVT
Recently, evidence of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) plays a pivotal role in fear responses. Still, more research is needed into how important PVT is in safety learning. In this study, we examined the role of PVT and its projection to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) in safety learning through […]
C57: The Effect of Safety and Sex on Freezing and Central Amygdala-PVT Pathway in Rats
Several studies have reported that the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) is a sensory relay node in the brain that interacts with fear circuitry. However, little is known about the PVT in relation to safety learning, particularly its interaction with the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) in the context of safety expression. Here, […]
C58: DRN corticotropin-releasing hormone modulation of aELS-enhanced fear learning in adulthood
Patients diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) present with a spectrum of debilitating anxiety symptoms that result from exposure to one or more traumatic events, with women having increased vulnerability for diagnosis; however, the mechanisms of this increased vulnerability remain unknown. The dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is a brain region that has been implicated in […]
C59: Selective Genetic Deletion of Oprm1 in FoxP2-Expressing Neurons Reduces Aversion-Resistant Reward Seeking
Mu-opioid receptors (MORs) in the amygdala and striatum are important in addictive and rewarding behaviors. For the current series of studies, we characterized the behavior of mice with genetic deletion of the MOR gene Oprm1 in FoxP2-expressing neurons (FoxP2-Cre/Oprm1fl/fl). FoxP2 is expressed in intercalated cells of the amygdala and a subset of striatal medium spiny […]
C60: Somatic Symptoms in Relation to Mental Health in Transitioning College Students
Our group’s general research area is mental health in college students; specifically, what we are focusing on is the presence of somatic (physical) symptoms in transitioning college students with mental health issues or experiences. Our work was conducted via an online survey; students from the LEADS Institute Programs were asked to fill out the form […]