Revealing the neural circuit mechanisms of stress susceptibility

Our past experiences influence how we perceive future events. Research in the Bagot Lab for Behavioural Neurogenomics, seeks to understand how stress influences what we learn about our world and how what we learn shapes our susceptibility to stress and psychopathology. We approach these questions from behavioural, neural circuit and molecular perspectives to build a comprehensive understanding of experience-dependent adaptation and maladaptation. Our research integrates a wide range of experimental approaches including optogenetics, in vivo calcium imaging, ex vivo electrophysiology, transcriptional profiling and viral-mediated gene manipulation with robust rodent behavioural paradigms to probe the molecular, cellular and synaptic mechanisms by which stress alters neural circuits to regulate behaviour. By revealing novel mechanisms of differential susceptibility, we seek to ultimately reduce the enormous burden of depression and other stress-related psychopathology.