Neuroscience - Research
1) Neurobiology of Reward, Emotion and Motivation
Department faculty members comprise a multidisciplinary group studying the fundamental neural pathways and
mechanisms responsible for reward, emotion and motivation in the brain, using levels of analysis that
range from molecular to behavioral/cognitive. Research in this area has clinical relevance to a variety
of neuropsychiatric diseases, including drug addiction, schizophrenia, anxiety, affective, and sleep
disorders, and there are strong linkages with clinical researchers in the Department of Psychiatry. Researchers in this group heavily depend
on the use of animal models in their research, and have been successful in obtaining major infrastructure
support from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to help create a
Neurobehavioral Core as one of several research facilities available to faculty and trainees in the department.
2) Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Function
Several department members are world-renown for their studies of the neuroendocrine and autonomic systems
of the brain, and the roles that hormones play in regulating the expression of behavior. Specifically,
research in this area is focused on the integrative neural circuitry responsible for endocrine, autonomic
and behavioral aspects of reproduction, including the neural basis of the estrous/menstrual cycle, male
sex behavior, and seasonal control of reproduction. In addition, research is directed at understanding
when and how sex differences in the brain arise, specifically with respect to limbic system structures
and the control of reproductive neuroendocrine systems
Faculty:
| Michael Lehman |
| Lique Coolen |
| David Cechetto |
3) Learning, Memory, and Cognitive Neuroscience
Basic scientists and clinical researchers in Anatomy & Cell Biology and Psychiatry are working closely together
to better understand the neural circuitry and molecular mechanisms involved in learning, memory, control of
emotional responding, and cognition in animal models and human subjects. The goal of investigators in this
multi-disciplinary collaboration is to determine how abnormalities in learning, memory, affect modulation and
cognition result in the emergence of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as addiction, affective disorders and
schizophrenia, in human patients and to develop more effective methods to help treat those disorders. Levels
of analysis range from molecular to cognitive; data from animal models and functional neuroimaging are
integrated to construct models of healthy and pathological neural function.