SECTION 2
4-5 PM (Moore Auditorium)
During the second hour, speakers will give a scientific research seminar accessible to the Department of Anesthesiology. This in-depth presentation and discussion on their latest findings will provide scholars with an experience of how faculty members share and teach about novel knowledge in their fields. For this portion, scholars and department members will be given the opportunity to ask questions after the talk if desired.
Thursday, June 9th, 4-5 PM (Moore Auditorium)
Dr. Hugo Tejeda
Stadtman Investigator, Chief of the Unit on Neuromodulation and Synaptic Integration
National Institute of Mental Health – Bethesda, MD
Dr. Tejeda completed his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and at the National Institute on Drug Abuse under the mentorship of Drs. Patricio O’Donnell and Toni Shippenberg. His thesis work elucidated the role of neuromodulatory systems, including opioid receptors, in modulating synaptic integration in prefrontal cortical and limbic circuits. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Antonello Bonci at the National Institute Drug Abuse where he elucidated the mechanisms by which monoamine and opioid receptors, as well as stress modulate information processing in the nucleus accumbens. Dr. Tejeda joined the National Institute of Mental Health in 2018 as a Stadtman principal investigator. His research focuses on the role of neuromodulation in processing information in limbic neural circuits under physiological conditions and in psychiatric disorders.
Research in Dr. Tejeda’s laboratory is aimed at elucidating how the brain utilizes neuromodulation in motivational and emotional neural circuits to process information and orchestrate behavior. Another major focus of the laboratory is to identify plastic changes in neuromodulation and synaptic integration in limbic circuits of animal models of psychiatric disorders to elucidate novel therapeutic targets and increase our understanding of conventional therapies. The laboratory employs an inter- disciplinary approach including electrophysiological, in-vivo imaging, optogenetic, and viral and transgenic techniques to dissect the function of neuromodulators, such as opioid receptors, in regulating synaptic integration in single cells, microcircuits, and distributed limbic networks to control motivated behavior.
Dr. Tejeda has published over 25 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has been invited to organize, sit in committees and chair in multiple international meetings and scientific journals. He has received numerous prestigious awards including the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation NARSAD Young Investigator award.
Dr. Tejeda has maintained a steady funding for his research since 2008 when he was a predoctoral student. His support allows his mentees to aim for similar success within their career. Dr.Tejeda recently received the NIMH Director’s Outstanding Mentor Award speaking highly of this dedication to mentorship and science advancement.