Members of the Center for Neurobiology of Stress fall into one or more of the following categories: (1) investigators at UCLA, VAGLAHS, Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, or other campus who are principal or co-principal investigators with peer-reviewed, competitive funding for research in neurovisceral sciences, gastrointestinal disorders, urological disorders, and stress neurobiology, and stress-immune system interactions, particularly related to sex-based differences and whose research directly impacts the goals of the Center; (2) division chiefs in gastroenterology, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, and psychiatry; (3) directors or co-directors of programs or cores, or individuals who have relevant roles within the Center and (4) clinicians who have made significant contributions to the main subject matters of the Center.
If you are interested in becoming a member, please contact Million Mulugeta, DVM, PhD at mmuluget@ucla.edu.
Members are listed in alphabetical order.
H
Ronald Harper, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Neurobiology, UCLA
Dr. Harper received his doctorate from McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) in 1968, and was later a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anatomy at UCLA. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Neurobiology, UCLA and a member of the UCLA Brain Research Institute. The primary objective of his research program is to determine the neural mechanisms that underlie the control of breathing and cardiovascular action during sleep. His laboratory examines these mechanisms through basic studies of neural functioning in animals and physiological and neural imaging studies of humans with normal and disordered breathing during sleep. The conditions with aberrant breathing and cardiovascular action include the sudden death of infants during sleep in the first six months of life (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, SIDS, crib death), infants who are unable to sustain ventilation during sleep (Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome, CCHS, “Ondine’s Curse”), and adults with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or heart failure; both of the latter conditions are characterized by severely impaired breathing and cardiovascular control during sleep. Dr. Harper’s publications include over 250 original articles, review articles, chapters and editorials; he has co-edited two books and participated in numerous national and international conferences and symposia. He is the P.I. on two grants, one on physiological development in SIDS and one on the neural control of cardiorespiratory function; he is also a subcontract P.I. on a SCOR Program grant on neural sites mediating obstructive sleep apnea (P.I. Jerome Siegel). He has served as a co-investigator on several grants, including a multi-site training program for basic sleep research (P.I. Michael Chase), a training program in oral-facial motor control (P.I. G. Bernard) and one dealing with sleep disordered breathing and the metabolic syndrome (P.I. M. Saad). He has served on the editorial board of several scientific journals and has served as a consulting reviewer on many leading journals, including Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, Experimental Neurology, Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Physiology and American Journal of Physiology. Over the years, he has sponsored or co-sponsored several successful NIH K-series awards (Drs. M. Scher, D. Gozal, U. Rao, M. Woo, E. Pae). Dr. Harper’s principal teaching efforts have been in a professional school course, Functional Neuroanatomy for the first year UCLA Dental School class; he also participates in several Neuroscience and Neurobiology graduate courses throughout the year. Dr. Harper’s laboratory has continued to be as source of innovative procedures for teaching, including 3-D visualization of neural material, partially acquired from his own imaging research efforts, and development of video material on CD-ROM media used to demonstrate neural pathology. Over the years Dr. Harper has trained 12 graduate students and overseen the research for 23 postdoctoral fellows, as well as a number of Student Research Program undergraduates and students from the CARE Program. A substantial portion of his time has been devoted to professional and UCLA service, including the School of Dentistry Faculty Executive Committee, the School of Dentistry Committee, the Chancellor’s Committee on Vivarium Usage and the departmental Committee for Advancement to Professorial Rank.
Margaret Heitkemper, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics; Adjunct Professor, Division of Gastroenterology; Director, Center for Research on Management of Sleep Disturbances, University of Washington
I am a Professor at the UW School of Nursing and an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Gastroenterology at the UW School of Medicine. My research program has focused on elucidating the mechanisms associated with abdominal pain in women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a common gastrointestinal (GI) function and pain condition. In addition, I led a subcontract for the study of IBS in children NR013497 and am currently a collaborator on a recently funded clinical study of FODMAPS and behavioral interventions for parents of children with IBS (Shulman, PI). My team and I have conducted three RCTs of a comprehensive self-management nurse-delivered intervention to reduce symptom (psychological distress, GI symptoms) in men and women with IBS. The findings from these studies resulted in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) published (2010) book Master your IBS. I served as co-chair of the Gender, Women’s Health, Age and the Patient’s Perspective for the Rome IV publication. In 2015 I served as co-chair of the AGA sponsored Freston Conference focused on IBS. I am also co-Director of the NINR-funded P30 Center for Innovations in Sleep Self-Management and Director of an NINR-funded T32 program titled Omics & Symptom Science. My team and I have explored the presence of potential biomarkers in patients with IBS as well as their predictive value in determining a priori who is most likely to benefit from behavioral-based therapies. An important predictor is vagal tone prior to the intervention. Of relevance to the proposed study, we have conducted studies of the microbiome and metabolome in women with IBS. We have utilized daily diaries to compare symptoms women and without IBS across the menstrual cycle and during the per-menopause transition. I have been been a longtime collaborator with Dr. Chang and her colleagues at UCLA. We have published several papers related to women, gender, and functional GI disorders.
Publications
Daniel Holschneider, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Department of Neurology, Department of Cell and Neurobiology, University of Southern California
The Laboratory of Vertebrate Functional Brain Mapping has over a decade of experience in imaging of the rodent brain, with expertise in behaviors in rodent models of pain, anxiety, brain injury, and anxiety, as well as in physiologic monitoring (ECG, EMG, EEG, cardiovascular function). The lab uses a variety of techniques in the analyses of the three-dimensional autoradiographic data sets of the rat and mouse brains, including region-of-interest analysis, statistical parametric mapping, as well as functional connectivity. A primary interest has been the development of new methods for functional brain imaging of rodent behaviors as they occur in freely moving animal in normal and pathological states. Ongoing projects examine activation of neural circuits and functional brain reorganization in rat models of visceral pain, traumatic brain injury, ‘Parkinson’s Disease’, and the serotonin transporter knockout mouse.
Selected References:
Wang Z, Ocampo MA, Pang RD, Bota M, Bradesi S, Mayer EA, Holschneider DP “Alterations in Prefrontal-Limbic Functional Activation and Connectivity in Chronic Stress-Induced Visceral Hyperalgesia”, PLoS ONE, 8(3):e59138, 2013, PMID:23527114
Holschneider DP, Guo Y, Wang Z, Roch M, Scremin OU, “Remote brain networks changes after unilateral cortical impact injury and their modulation by acetylcholinesterase inhibition” Journal of Neurotrauma, 30(11):907-919, 2013, PMID:23343118
Wang Z, Myers KG, Guo Y, Ocampo MA, Pang RD, Jakowec MW, Holschneider DP, “Functional reorganization of motor and limbic circuits after forced exercise training in a rat model of bilateral Parkinsonism”, PLoS ONE, 8(11), e80058, 2013, PMID:24278239
Holschneider DP, Wang Z, Pang RD, “Functional connectivity-based parcellation and connectome of cortical midline structures in the mouse: a perfusion autoradiography study”, Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, Jun 11;8:61. doi: 10.3389/fninf.2014.00061, 2014, PMID 24966831
Wang Z, Guo Y, Myers KG, Heintz R, Peng Y-H, Maarek J-MI, Holschneider DP “Exercise alters resting state functional connectivity of motor circuits in Parkinsonian rats,” Neurobiology of Aging, in press
Elaine Hsiao, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, De Logi Chair in Biological Sciences, Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Dr. Elaine Y. Hsiao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology at UCLA, where she leads a laboratory studying fundamental interactions between the microbiome, brain and behavior, and their applications to neurological disorders. Her studies on the relationships between the microbiota, immune system and nervous system led her to discover that the microbiota can regulate behavioral, metabolic and gastrointestinal abnormalities relevant to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Her work in this area, and on neuroimmune interactions in autism, has led to several honors, including the National Institutes of Health Director’s Early Independence Award, distinction as Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Science and Healthcare, National Geographic’s Emerging Explorer Award and fellowships from the National Institute of Mental Health and Autism Speaks. Inspired by this interplay between the microbiota and nervous system, the Hsiao laboratory is mining the human microbiota for microbial modulators of host neuroactive molecules, investigating the impact of microbiota-immune system interactions on neurodevelopment and examining the microbiome as an interface between gene-environment interactions in neurological diseases.
Selected References
Yano JM, Yu K, Donaldson G, Shastri G, Ma L, Ann P, Nagler C, Ismagilov RF, Mazmanian SK, Hsiao EY (2015) Indigenous bacteria from the gut microbiota regulate host serotonin biosynthesis. Cell, 161:264-76.
Hsiao EY, McBride SW, Hsien S, Sharon G, Hyde ER, McCue T, Codelli JA, Chow J, Reisman SE, Petrosino JF, Patterson PH*, Mazmanian SK* (2013) The microbiota modulates behavioral and physiological abnormalities associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Cell, 155:1451-1463.
Hsiao EY, McBride SW, Chow J, Mazmanian SK, Patterson PH (2012) Modeling an autism risk factor in mice leads to permanent immune dysregulation. PNAS 109:12776-81