Neuroscience (UMB)
Area of Doctoral Study: Neuroscience
Undergraduate Institute: California State University, San Bernardino
Research Advisor: Todd D. Gould, M.D.
Description of Research
My research has largely involved the use of murine models to understand the etiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of depression as well as the disordered physiological processes that regulate affect throughout development. This led me to appreciate that depression is a complex and heterogeneous disorder that is often associated with impaired synaptic plasticity in affective brain regions. My dissertation project addresses in part how rapid-acting antidepressants leverage these plasticity-related mechanisms to exert their effects. Currently, I am using biochemical, electrophysiological, and photometric approaches to investigate the acute synaptic mechanism of action of the ketamine metabolite, (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK). Upon completion of my PhD, I will continue investigating the pathophysiology and treatment of psychiatric disease as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT.