Brent Myers

My research is generally focused on the integrative neuroscience of stress. Specific projects combine neurocircuit analysis with behavioral neuroscience, endocrinology, and cardiovascular physiology to determine the mechanistic basis of stress effects on health. Ongoing studies are particularly focused on the neurobiological mechanisms linking mood and anxiety disorders with cardiovascular disease. To identify the neural substrates linking chronic stress, negative mood, and cardiometabolic dysfunction, the laboratory uses rodent models and a variety of neuroscience tools including viral-mediated gene transfer, optogenetics, fiber photometry, connectional anatomy, immunohistochemistry, microscopy, and transcriptional analyses. These approaches are complimented by behavioral measurements of sociability, motivation, and coping, as well as assessment of physiological outcomes by cardiovascular radiotelemetry, hormonal analysis, and vascular myography. Ultimately, our goal is to identify the network of neural circuitry mediating stress-related pathologies in order to aid the development of targeted interventions to improve health outcomes.