Debra Bangasser
Professor Neuroscience- Education
Ph.D., 2007, Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University
M.S., 2005, Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University
B.A., 2001, Psychology, Minored in Biology, San Diego State University (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa)
- Specializations
Neuroendocrinology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Stress, Sex Differences, Early Life Adversity, Cognition, Motivated Behavior
- Biography
Dr. Bangasser has authored numerous publications in top journals including PNAS, Biological Psychiatry, and Nature Neuroscience. She is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society for Neuroscience, International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Organization for the Study of Sex Differences, and the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. Her research is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute of Mental Health.
Research Interests
Psychiatric disorders occur at different rates and present differently in men and women. Yet, these disorders share stress as a contributing factor. Dr. Debra Bangasser uses techniques from behavioral neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, and molecular neuroscience to investigate how sex differences in stress responses bias males and females towards different pathology.
- Publications
Publications
- Eck, S.R., Palmer, J., Bavley, C., Karbalaei, R., Ordoñes Sanchez, E., Flowers, J., Holley, A., Wimmer, M. & Bangasser, D.A. (2022). Effects of early life adversity on male reproductive behavior and the medial preoptic area transcriptome, Neuropsychopharmacology, 47, 1231–1239.
- Ordoñes Sanchez, E., Bavley, C., Deutschmann, A., Carpenter, R., Peterson, D., Karbalaei, R., Flowers, J., Rogers, C., Langrehr, M., Ardekani, C., Famularo, S., Bongiovanni, A.R., Knouse, M.C., Floresco, S.B., Briand, L.A., Wimmer, M.E., & Bangasser, D.A. (2021). Early life adversity promotes sex-specific resilience to opioid addiction-related phenotypes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118, 1–8.
- Eck, S. R., Xu, S., Telenson, A., Duggan, M.R., Cole, R., Wicks, B., Bergmann, J., Lefebo, H., Shore, M., Shepard, K.A., Akins, M.R., Parikh, V., Heller, E.A., & Bangasser, D.A. (2020). Stress regulation of sustained attention and the cholinergic attention system, Biological Psychiatry,88, 566–575. Chosen by the editor for a commentary.
- Eck, S. R., Ardekani, C., Salvatore, M., Luz, S., Kim, E.D., Rogers, C.M., Hall, A., Lee, D.E., Famularo, S.T., Bhatnagar, S., & Bangasser, D.A. (2020). The effects of early life adversity on growth, maturation, and steroid hormones in male and female rats, European Journal of Neuroscience, In press.
- Wiersielis, K.R., Ceretti, A., Hall, A., Famularo, S., Salvatore, M., Ellis, A., Jang, H., Wimmer, M., & Bangasser, D.A. (2019). Sex differences in corticotropin releasing factor regulation of medial septum-mediated memory formation, Neurobiology of Stress, 10, 100150, 1–7.
- Bangasser, D.A., Eck, S.R., & Ordoñes Sanchez, E. (2019). Sex differences in stress reactivity in arousal and attention systems, Neuropsychopharmacology,44, 9423–9432.