Research

I use a rodent model to study neuroimmune function and neuroplasticity in the peripartum period, and how these systems facilitate maternal behavior. Primarily I am focused on how perturbations in the typical neuroimmune profile during pregnancy, induced by gestational stress, alters synaptic structures and leads to a Postpartum Depression-like behavioral phenotype in maternal rats. 

Awards

2019 - Travel Award, The Ohio State University Neuroscience Department

Publications

Breach MR, Dye CN, Joshi A, Platko S, Gilfarb RA, Krug AR, Franceschelli DV, Galan A, Dodson CM, Lenz KM. (2021) Maternal allergic inflammation in rats impacts the offspring perinatal neuroimmune milieu and the development of social play, locomotor behavior, and cognitive flexibility. Brain Behav Immun. 95:269-286.

Joshi A, Page CE, Damante M, Dye CN, Haim A, Leuner B, Lenz KM. (2019) Sex differences in the effects of early life stress exposure on mast cells in the developing rat brain. Horm Behav. 113:76-84.