Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute
van Praag Laboratory
Exercise benefits brain function and behavior. The van Praag lab focuses on elucidating the central and peripheral mechanisms through which exercise enhances adult hippocampal neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity and memory function in rodent models. These studies may lead to novel interventions for those who cannot be physically active due to injury, frailty or neurodegeneration. Dr. van Praag’s laboratory employs a combination of behavioral, neurochemical, physiological and imaging techniques.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Henriette van Praag
Henriette van Praag received her Ph.D. from Tel-Aviv University (Israel). She obtained postdoctoral training at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, NJ, followed by a position as a staff scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA. Dr. van Praag started her own research group at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore in 2007. She moved her laboratory to Florida Atlantic University in 2018. She is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and FAU Brain Institute, and serves as co-Editor-in-Chief for the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, https://www.iospress.com/catalog/journals/restorative-neurology-and-neuroscience
- Zhu, X., Joo, Y., Boss, S., McDevitt, R.A., Xie, A., Wang, Y., Xue, Y., Su, S., Lee, S.K., Sah, N., Zhang, S., Ye, R., Pinto, A., Zhang, Y., Araki, K., Araki, M., Morales, M., Mattson, M.P., van Praag, H., Wang, W. TDRD3-null mice show post-transcriptional and behavioural impairments associated with neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity. Progress in Neurobiology doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2024.102568. 2024.
- Edmunds KJ, Pandos AA, Hoang I, Mamlouk GM, Motovylyak A, Lose SR, Asthana S, Stremlau M, Johnson SC, van Praag H, Okonkwo OC. BDNF expression mediates verbal learning and memory in women in a cohort enriched with risk for Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimers & Dementia 17(1):370062, 2025.
- Pinto A, Haytural H, Loss CM, Alvarez C, Ertas A, Curtis O, Williams AR, Murphy G, Salleng KJ, Gografe S, Visavadiya NP, Khamoui A, Altıntaş A, Kafri T, Barres R, Deshmukh AS, van Praag H. Muscle Cathepsin B treatment improves behavioral and neurogenic deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease. Aging Cell Nov;24(11):e70242. doi: 10.1111/acel.70242. PMID: 41047763, 2025.
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Ben-Zeev T, Levi C, Ratamess NA, van Praag H, Hoffman JR. Comparison of Different Exercise Modalities on Neuronal Plasticity and Spatial Memory.Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2026 Sep 1. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000004130.