Faculty and Post Docs
Paula Gajewski – Research Assistant Professor
Email:
pgajewski@health.fau.edu
113, MC-17
Recent evidence linking neuropsychiatric disorders and inflammation is gaining traction and revealing new avenues for treatment options. Paula's research focuses on examining the interplay between inflammation and depression and how serotonin may be mediating this interaction. Serotonin is found throughout the body, but in the brain it is responsible for regulating your mood, sleep, and learning to name a few. Serotonin neurons are capable of responding to inflammatory signals, unlike many other neurons. Disruptions in serotonin signaling have already been implicated in the development of depression and we see depressive-like symptoms in response to inflammation, as well. Paula is working to elucidate the effect that inflammation has on serotonin neuron signaling and determine on a circuit-specific level the regions involved in the development of depressive-related behaviors.
Maureen Hahn - Research Professor
Email:
hahnm@health.fau.edu
103, MC-17
Maureen's research seeks to understand the neurotransmitter signaling pathways underlying emotional and cognitive processes, including mood, attention, reward, learning, memory, and stress response, and the neuropsychiatric disorders that can arise with disruption of these systems. Research focuses on neurotransmitter transporters that regulate the catecholamines, norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA). The duration and intensity of NE and DA signaling in the brain (and additionally in the sympathetic autonomic nervous system in the case of NE) are limited by the presynaptically localized transporters for NE (NET) and DA (DAT) that clear released neurotransmitter through active transport into terminals. DAT and NET are both targets for psychostimulants, including those that treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). NET is also a target for tricyclic antidepressants, and NET-selective reuptake inhibitors (NSRIs), the latter also effectively treat ADHD. One focus of this research is to investigate genetic variation in the human NET and DAT genes and the consequences for transporter function, and contribution to psychiatric and cardiovascular disease. Transgenic mouse models allow for in vivo assessment of the effects of NET and DAT variants on catecholamine neuronal activity, physiology and behavior. Mouse projects include the study of the first NET knockin mouse (NET A457P), bearing a NET mutation identified in humans with postural orthostatic tachycardia. NET A457P mice recapitulate the NET deficiency observed in human carriers, and express cardiovascular and psychiatric-related phenotypes.
Carina Arnold - Postdoctoral Fellow
Room 113, MC-17
Email:
carnold2019@fau.edu