2011–12 Claritas Distinguished Visitor in the Sciences
Kerry Ressler, M.D., Ph.D.
Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, 8 p.m.
Degenstein Center Theater
Lecture: "Fear and its Inhibition: From Mice to Men"
Ressler is assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine and Yerkes National Primate Center in Atlanta and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland. He received his Bachelor of Science in molecular biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University, and his M.D. from Harvard University School of Medicine. He is the recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research and the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience in 2007.
Ressler will speak about the basic neural circuitry of fear and fear extinction. His research examines neural plasticity modulators that regulate fear learning in amygdale, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex areas of the brain. In addition to considering convergent genetic approaches to understanding fear-related disorders, his talk also will include information on how findings have been translated into new treatments for human fear-related disorders, including phobias, panic disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“The neural basis of fear is similar across all mammals, and the translational insights offered by studying fear neurobiology in animal models are just tremendous,” says Ressler.
The primary objective of the work in the Ressler lab is to use the power of molecular genetics to understand the molecular biology, neural circuitry and behavioral biology of fear and extinction of fear in mouse models. Ressler is also a practicing psychiatrist with an interest in translational and clinical research on fear-based psychiatric disorders; he focuses on PTSD at Grady Memorial Hospital. Ressler hopes that by understanding how fear works in the mammalian brain in the laboratory, it will improve understanding of and provide translational treatments and possibly prevention of fear-based disorders, such as PTSD, phobic disorders and panic disorder.
For more information, contact the School of Natural and Social Sciences at 570-372-4172 or DeanNSS@susqu.edu. This lecture is free and open to the public.
