Scientific Talk “Developmental Circuit Mechanisms of Adaptive Threat Avoidance”

Event Description:

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) makes essential contributions to learning, mood, and decision making, including evaluating and responding to threats. mPFC circuits undergo an exceptionally prolonged maturation that is likely necessary to support complex behaviors, but extends the developmental window during which insults can perturb circuit assembly. Indeed, mPFC dysfunction is linked to many psychiatric disorders including anxiety and depression, which often arise during adolescence and are characterized by inappropriate avoidance. Although mPFC circuits are clear therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders, substantial gaps in our understanding of how key mPFC connections form and how this maturation enables emergence of complex cognitive and emotional behaviors prevent us from designing effective interventions. Our research addresses this knowledge gap by performing precision analysis of mPFC threat circuit function across development.