Projects

Our research program is organized around a central question: how does experience—particularly stress and social exposure—reshape neural circuits to produce persistent changes in aggressive and affiliative behavior?

The projects below represent interconnected lines of investigation to answer this question that spans circuit mechanisms, learning, and translational intervention strategies. Our hope is that through these studies, we may understand why maladaptive social behaviors persist and how they might be reversed.

Early life stress rewires aggression circuits to produce life-long violent behavior

Stress early in life—or during trauma—can leave a lasting mark on the brain. This project explores how these experiences rewire neural circuits that control threat and aggression, leading to persistent, maladaptive aggressive behavior.

Mechanisms of observationally learned aggression

Animals can learn to act aggressively through observation. Familiarity is critical to this process, pointing to specific brain circuits that gate the spread of aggression. These studies provide a model for how peer influence drives violence in humans.

Structural Plasticity Changes in Early Life Stress

In this project, we are examining the impact of early life stress on structural changes within amygdala pathways using the mGRASP technique.

Rewriting the Stress Response: Glutamate Signaling After Early Life Trauma

Early life stress can rewire glutamate signaling in the brain, locking in long-lasting aggression. This project reveals how stress reshapes NMDA receptor–dependent circuits—and why some treatments help, while others can make aggression worse.

Brain circuits that drive social novelty seeking

For this project, we aim to characterize the neurocircuits responsible for identifying and interpreting social contexts, and how this process influences social interactions. We are also interested in how stress interferes with this process.