Research Projects

Imprinting of Microglia by Developmental Stressors

This project will explore the molecular mechanisms of how microglia “remember” early life stress exposures leading to an adaptation in their life-long response to future stimuli. We will evaluate mechanisms of innate immune memory including metabolic adaptations and epigenetic marks induced by maternal immune activation that persist across the lifespan of microglia from early development to aging.

Microglia heterogeneity in human disease

Microglia can polarize to many different immune activation states in both human and mouse models. We aim to determine which microglia states are prevalent in human neuroinflammatory disorders and can shape clinical pathology and disease risk.

Microglia mediated regulation of striatal circuit development and activity

We showed microglia imprinted by maternal immune activation impaired the circuit actiivty of dopamine receptor type 2 medium spiny neurons in the ventral striatum. The project will evaluate how microglia shape the development and activity of this circuit.