Our Mission
Childhood abuse occurs in nearly 25%, and up tp 50%, of the civilian and veteran population. Our lab is highly motivated to model early life trauma and determine how neural circuits are reshaped by it. Using a combination of circuits- and molecular-level techniques, we hope to advance the knowledge of how early life trauma reshapes neural circuits to influence adult behavior with the ultimate goal of providing novel targets for the reduction of symptoms related to trauma-based disorders.
The TED Lab uses a model of juvenile chronic social defeat stress in mice (created by Drs. Hisey and Ressler at McLean Hospital) in order to model the effects of physical trauma in childhood. Our current current research uses optogenetic, in vivo calcium imaging and RNA manipulation techniques in this early life trauma model to examine how adult neural circuits can be altered by early life trauma.
