About

I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Bowdoin College, where I teach courses for both the Psychology and Neuroscience Programs and run a lab focused on understanding the neural basis of affective dysfunction. In 2010 I earned my bachelors in Psychology from Colby College with a concentration in neuroscience as the first in my family to attend college. I completed my graduate work at the University of Connecticut working with Dr. James Chrobak, where I earned my M.A. (2013) and my Ph.D (2015) in Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience. My dissertation research focused on parvalbumin (PV), a calcium-binding protein thought to be involved in cognitive impairment seen in schizophrenia, and its modulation by age and NMDA receptor antagonism. This work revealed age-dependent changes in PV expression that were differentially impacted by chronic ketamine administration. My postdoctoral training was completed in Dr. Heather Brenhouse's Developmental Neuropsychobiology Lab at Northeastern University, where I explored the role of early life adversity on acute and long-term neural and behavioral consequences. Specifically, I characterized the development of corticolimbic circuitry following early life maternal separation in rats using anterograde axonal tracing and magnetic resonance imaging techniques. I am leading an ongoing project exploring the impact of early adversity on corticolimbic task-based functional connectivity across development in males and females. For this work I utilize a novel and ethologically relevant/translational auditory model of acute anxiety induction via ultrasonic vocalization playback. This work has been supported by NARSAD funding awarded to me through the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation and conducted in partnership with my collaborators at Northeastern University, with supporting experiments being conducted by my team of Bowdoin undergraduate researchers.

My research interests are focused on uncovering the role of early experiences on acute and long-term neural and behavioral outcomes in translational rat models of affective disorders. My research seeks to uncover the underlying neural circuitry impacted in adversity-related disorders - particularly those characterized by affective dysfunction/dysregulation including anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. I use a variety of basic and advanced neuroscience techniques (i.e. behavioral assays, immunohistochemistry, neural tracing, task-based fMRI, etc.) to interrogate regions and circuits of the brain involved in affective disorders which are disrupted by early adversity. I am also interested in how we can utilize the recording and playback of rat social cues (i.e. ultrasonic vocalizations; USVs) to investigate underlying neural mechanisms of anxiety-related hypervigilance in typical animals and in animal models of affective disorders. Furthermore, I aim to uncover how these are influenced by sex and development. To extend this work, I recently received a Maine INBRE Award investigate the influence of adversity-induced epigenetic changes (via DNA methylation) on affective behavioral outcomes, including on the regulation of risk assessment via USV presentation. This work has the promise of identifying putative targets of risk/resilience for furthering our understanding of the pathogenesis of affective dysfunction.

In addition to my research I am also a passionate educator with an appointment at Bowdoin College, and have previously taught Psychology and Neuroscience courses at the University of Connecticut, MCPHS University, and Northeastern University. Courses I have taught include: Introduction to Psychology (with an emphasis on biobehavioral sciences), Physiological Psychology, Biological Psychology, Learning & Motivation, and Clinical Neuroscience. I have an interest in teaching courses at the intersection of neuroscience and various other disciplines (i.e. arts, law, ethics). As a first generation college student and queer-identifying individual I am an advocate for underrepresented students in the sciences, including first generation students, women, URMs, BIPOC, and LGBTQA+ identifying individuals. On any given day you can find me in the classroom, lab, or my home art studio!