Research in the laboratory focuses on the understanding of the neurobiology of stress-related disorders, particularly Post-traumatic stress disorder and stress-induced depression.
We examine the effects of stressful experiences early and later in life on cognitive and emotional abilities in adulthood. We attempt to differentiate between the effects of very early and juvenile stress, acute and chronic stress and between controllable and uncontrollable stress.
In our lab, we have developed several behavioral models of mood and anxiety disorders and are currently studying their electrophysiological and biochemical consequences.
We study the role of emotional activation in memory formation and assess the interactions between the hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal and entorhinal cortex, when learning under different levels of emotional activation. Both in vivo field potential recordings and measurements of signal transduction cascade activation are utilized in order to map the patterns of activation of these limbic regions.
Some of our current projects:
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