# overview
My research focuses on developing neuronal and behavioral models of mild cognitive impairment and early stages of Alzheimer's' Disease. AD is complex and multifaceted, and my goal is to uncover early aspects of the disease pathway in hopes of achieving prevention of further decline.

One aspect of the pathway that is promising in terms of resulting in a successful treatment for AD is to treat the loss of functional synapses. Loss of plasticity and synaptic transmission is one of the earliest hallmarks of AD and one of the best correlates of cognitive dysfunction in aging. It is virtually impossible for this to be studied in humans, and thus little progress has been made in developing therapeutics to resurrect synaptic function. We have developed a mouse model of age-related cognitive impairment in which we can use light (optogenetics) in order to uncover the faulty synaptic mechanisms that promote cognitive dysfunction observed in aging and early AD.

# keywords[]
3214 Pharmacology And Pharmaceutical Sciences

# keywords[]
Alzheimer's Disease Including Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (ad/adrd)

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
San Jacinto College - (Pasadena, Texas, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Texas A&M Health Science Center - (College Station, Texas, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Texas A&M University - (College Station, Texas, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
University of Florida - (Gainesville, Florida, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Baylor College of Medicine - (Houston, Texas, United States)

# publications[].label
Deficits in hippocampal-dependent transfer generalization learning accompany synaptic dysfunction in a mouse model of amyloidosis.

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Effects of ethanol and varenicline on female Sprague-Dawley rats in a third trimester model of fetal alcohol syndrome.

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Deficits across multiple cognitive domains in a subset of aged Fischer 344 rats.

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P3169: OPTOGENETIC QUANTAL ANALYSIS OF BASAL FOREBRAIN SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION WITH PHARMACOLOGICAL TESTING OF SYNAPTIC ACTIVITY WITH GLUTAMATE AND CALCIUM MODULATORS

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P3032: Novel, highly translational learning assessment in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

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Cognitive changes and circadian timekeeping disturbances in aging

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Assessing Depression and Cognitive Impairment Following Stroke and Neurotrauma: Behavioral Methods for Quantifying Impairment and Functional Recovery.

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Good things come to those who wait: attenuated discounting of delayed rewards in aged Fischer 344 rats.

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Prefrontal cortical-striatal dopamine receptor mRNA expression predicts distinct forms of impulsivity.

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Molecular, physiological and behavioral characterization of the heterozygous Df[h15q13]/+ mouse model associated with the human 15q13.3 microdeletion syndrome.

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Amitriptyline Decreases GABAergic Transmission in Basal Forebrain Neurons Using an Optogenetic Model of Aging.

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Brain-derived neurotrophic factor promotes adaptive plasticity within the spinal cord and mediates the beneficial effects of controllable stimulation.

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Development of an age-dependent cognitive index: relationship between impaired learning and disturbances in circadian timekeeping.

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Spatial reference and working memory across the lifespan of male Fischer 344 rats.

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Mir363-3p Treatment Attenuates Long-Term Cognitive Deficits Precipitated by an Ischemic Stroke in Middle-Aged Female Rats.

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P4037: Novel agedependent learning deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease: Implications for translational research

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[P1127]: TARGETING PREDEMENTIA SYNAPTIC MECHANISMS DURING AGING AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

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Chronic, low-dose prenatal exposure to methylmercury impairs motor and mnemonic function in adult C57/B6 mice.

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A sex-specific role for the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in proactive defensive behavior.

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Long-term effects of prior cocaine exposure on Morris water maze performance.

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Novel age-dependent learning deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease: implications for translational research.

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GENDER SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF ETHANOL AND VARENICLINE IN A THIRD TRIMESTER MODEL OF FASD

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Maintenance of optogenetic channel rhodopsin (ChR2) function in aging mice: Implications for pharmacological studies of inhibitory synaptic transmission, quantal content, and calcium homeostasis.

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Altered spatial learning and delay discounting in a rat model of human third trimester binge ethanol exposure.

# researcherOn[].label
Cognitive impairment and AD: targeting presynaptic therapeutic mechanisms

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
Alzheimer's Association - (Chicago, Illinois, United States)