Assistant Professor of Psychology
About
My research program seeks to understand how early life experiences give rise to different phenotypes that alter risk and resilience to developing psychiatric disorders later in life. We investigate interactions between genes, environmental factors, sex, and development (G x E x S x D). Specifically, we examine how environmental experiences impact factors related to chromatin remodeling, the epigenome, and genomic changes to discern how social and addictive behaviors are impacted throughout the lifespan.
To study these topics, we integrate basic and cutting-edge molecular techniques (e.g., scRNAseq, bulk RNAseq, long-read sequencing, RNAscope, qPCR, IHC, gene knockdown strategies) with behavioral measures (e.g., drug self-administration, impulsivity, play behavior, etc.) to better understand how the environment, genes, and development interact to influence behavior.
