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Heather Cameron, PhDInvestigator Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program National Institute of Mental Health |
Dr. Cameron received her B.S. from Yale University and her Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University, where she worked with Bruce McEwen and Elizabeth Gould examining neurogenesis in the adult rat dentate gyrus. During a postdoctoral fellowship with Ron McKay at NINDS, she determined the magnitude of adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and investigated the effects of stress hormones on neurogenesis in the aging rat hippocampus. Dr. Cameron joined the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at NIMH as an Investigator in 2001. Her laboratory studies the regulation of adult neurogenesis and the role of the newly-born neurons in normal hippocampal function as well as in diseases involving the hippocampus.
Research Interests
The dentate gyrus is one of only two brain regions that continue to produce large numbers of new neurons during adulthood. The goal of our research is to understand the function of adult neurogenesis by studying the regulation of granule cell development, the activation of the new neurons, and the behavioral consequences of inhibiting neurogenesis.
One focus of our work is understanding the activation of granule cells at different ages. New granule cells mature over several weeks, but it is unclear whether they become functional while they are immature, and both highly excitable and highly plastic, or whether they contribute to hippocampal function only after they mature and have properties more like the rest of the granule cell population. This issue is important, because it is related to the larger question of whether granule cells continue to be generated in order to increase the size of the granule cell population or whether the young neurons have a different function than the mature granule cells. If young granule cells do have a unique function, what is the time window during which they perform this function?
Another aspect of our work involves exploring the effects of inhibiting adult neurogenesis on behavior. We have found that mice lacking adult neurogenesis show heightened responses to psychosocial stress; it takes longer for corticosteroid levels to return to baseline levels after stress in these mice. In addition, they show increased depressive-like behavior in stressful tests or after being stressed. We are interested in learning more about how the new neurons normally buffer against depressive-like behavior. In addition, we are investigating how the stress buffering property of new neurons relates to a function for adult neurogenesis in learning and memory.
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John Gilmore, MDProfessor and Vice Chair for Research & Scientific Affairs Director of the Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill |
- BA, University of Virginia
- M.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Intern, Department of Surgery, Graduate Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Resident, Psychiatry, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Payne-Whitney Clinic
- Research Fellow, Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research Interests
Dr. Gilmore’s research focuses on the study of early brain development and risk for schizophrenia. His research uses MRI to study structural and functional brain development in normal and high risk children, as well as in twins to better understand the impact of environmental and genetic risk factors on early brain development, and the relationship of structural brain development to cognitive development in early childhood.
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Kerry Ressler, MD, PhDAssociate Professor Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Emory University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Center for Behavioral Neuroscience Yerkes National Primate Research Center |
Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, researches the molecular and cellular mechanisms of fear learning and the process of extinction of fear in mouse models. The primary objective of the work in the Ressler lab is to use the power of molecular genetics to understand the molecular biology, neural circuitry and behavioral biology of fear and extinction of fear in mouse models.
Dr. Ressler is also a practicing psychiatrist with an interest in translational and clinical research on fear-based psychiatric disorders; he focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at Grady Memorial Hospital. Dr. Ressler hopes that by understanding how fear works in the mammalian brain in the laboratory, it will improve understanding of and provide translational treatments and possibly prevention for fear-based disorders, such as PTSD, phobic disorders and panic disorder.
Research Interests
The Ressler lab at Yerkes National Primate Research Center is focused on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of fear learning and the process of extinction of fear in mouse models. The primary objective of the work in the Ressler lab is to utilize the power of molecular genetics to understand the molecular biology, the neural circuitry, and the behavioral biology of fear and extinction of fear in mouse models.
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Nim Tottenham, PhD.Assistant Professor Department of Psychology University of California Los Angeles |
Research Interests
My research focuses on the neurodevelopment of social behavior across childhood and adolescence. I am particularly interested in how early experiences impact our emotional reactions to social stimuli, like other people's faces.
- Effects of early-life stress on brain development: In order to better understand how early experiences shape brain development, we study the neurodevelopment of children who experienced various forms of early life stress (e.g., poor caregiving) in hopes to understand long-term effects of early deprivation in humans.
- Face processing: I study the development of face processing from childhood to adulthood. Current research projects investigate brain activity related to the perception of faces as a special class of visual objects and the activity that supports our understanding of another's emotional state based on their facial expression. Our lab has developed a set of stimuli called the NIMSTIM Set of Facial Expressions, which available to the scientific community.
- Autism and social behavior: Our lab uses neuroimaging & eye-tracking to investigate individual differences in face processing abilities in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. The goal of the research is to shed light on how these skills normally develop through experience and to provide insight into how atypical face processing might be alleviated through intervention programs.
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Ned Kalin, MDHedberg Professor and Chair Department of Psychiatry Director, HealthEmotions Research Institute University of Wisconsin - Madison |
Dr. Kalin earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then did a residency in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin. Subsequently, he did a fellowship in Neuropsychopharmacology at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Kalin is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the American College of Psychiatry. He has been recognized for numerous awards including the 1985 A.E. Bennett Award for basic science research in biological psychiatry, the 2005 Edward A. Strecker Award, the 2007 American College of Psychiatrists Award for research in mood disorders, and the 2007 Gerald Klerman Senior Investigator Award. He recently served as president of the International Society of Psychoneuro-endocrinology and also recently served on the National Advisory Mental Health Council. He has published over one hundred and seventy peer-reviewed research papers and is Co-Editor of the Journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. He lectures regularly at national and international meetings.
Research Interests
Dr Kalin serves as the principal investigator for several ongoing NIH funded research projects. His research focuses on uncovering basic mechanisms that relate stress to the development of psychopathology and to understanding which mechanisms cause some children vulnerable for the development of anxiety and depression. In addition to his research activities, he treats patients that suffer from anxiety and depression that are refractory to standard treatment.