Project Summary

David J. Anderson, Ph.D. (Distinguished Investigator 2007) of the California Institute of Technology, aims to better understand amygdala control of emotional behavior because doing so should improve the diagnosis and treatment of emotional disorders. He plans to use animal models to manipulate specific genes in particular subpopulations of neurons within the amygdala central nucleus. He will then characterize the genes’ impact on neural pathways of fear and anxiety using genomic methods and other approaches, including tracking neural circuitry and silencing or activating specific neurons. If successful, this project would illustrate the power of the approach and open up its application to other amygdalar cell populations, as well as to neurons in other brain structures implicated in emotion, mood and affect. He is seeking NARSAD funds to help him develop expertise in new methodologies, which his laboratory currently does not have. To assist him, he has recruited an exceptional electrophysiologist as a postdoctoral fellow to work on this project. With short-term funding, he hopes to develop preliminary data and competence to obtain longer-term support for the project from government funding agencies.

Program Area: ANXIETY DISORDERS

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