Tara LeGates
Assistant Professor
Phone |
410-455-8679
|
---|---|
tlegates@umbc.edu | |
Education |
Postdoc, University of Maryland School of Medicine (2019)
Ph D, Johns Hopkins University (2013)
BS, Rider University (2007)
|
Website | https://legateslab.umbc.edu/ |
About
I received my B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Rider University. I earned my Ph.D. in Biology at Johns Hopkins University in the laboratory of Samer Hattar and conducted my postdoctoral work at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the laboratory of Scott Thompson.
Research Interests
I am interested in how brain regions communicate with one another to regulate behavior and how changes in that communication can result in psychiatric disease.
Teaching Interests
My teaching interests include neuroscience ranging from the function of synapses to the regulation of behavior. I am also interested in helping trainees build skills that will be critical for their success as future scientists including communication, experimental design, and hypothesis testing.
Intellectual Contributions
(2019) Sex differences in antidepressant efficacy. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
(2018) Reward behaviour is regulated by the strength of hippocampus-nucleus accumbens synapses. Nature
(2018) Long-Term Potentiation Requires a Rapid Burst of Dendritic Mitochondrial Fission during Induction. Neuron
(2017) Wnt5a is essential for hippocampal dendritic maintenance and spatial learning and memory in adult mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(2017) An LHX1-Regulated Transcriptional Network Controls Sleep/Wake Coupling and Thermal Resistance of the Central Circadian Clockworks. Current biology : CB
(2016) Motor neuron disease, TDP-43 pathology, and memory deficits in mice expressing ALS-FTD-linked UBQLN2 mutations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(2016) Abnormal wake/sleep pattern in a novel gain-of-function model of DISC1. Neuroscience research
(2015) Rapid Antidepressant Action and Restoration of Excitatory Synaptic Strength After Chronic Stress by Negative Modulators of Alpha5-Containing GABAA Receptors. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
(2015) An excitatory synapse hypothesis of depression. Trends in neurosciences
(2014) Light as a central modulator of circadian rhythms, sleep and affect. Nature reviews. Neuroscience
(2014) Lhx1 controls terminal differentiation and circadian function of the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Cell reports
(2012) Aberrant light directly impairs mood and learning through melanopsin-expressing neurons. Nature
(2011) Measuring circadian and acute light responses in mice using wheel running activity. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE
(2010) Melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion-cell photoreceptors: cellular diversity and role in pattern vision. Neuron
(2009) Accelerated re-entrainment to advanced light cycles in BALB/cJ mice. Physiology & behavior
(2009) Circadian and light effects on mood regulation Mood and Anxiety Related Phenotypes in Mice New York, NY Humana Press
(2008) Rods-cones and melanopsin detect light and dark to modulate sleep independent of image formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America