(Registration Closed) Laboratory Approaches for Studying Social & Emotional Neurodevelopment in Young Children

Presenters

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  Dr. Barbara Thompson

  Trained as a behavioral neuroscientist in social, emotional and cognitive development, I integrate clinical research and basic models to study affect in both typical and atypical neurodevelopment. This approach embodies translational research at its core. My graduate work at the University of Delaware focused on limbic circuitry and how disruptions might alter affective processing, while my postdoctoral work at Vanderbilt University analyzed how prenatal disruptions in reward circuitry can lead to significant functional changes throughout development. My laboratory research program merges these two areas of interest towards exploring the neurobiological underpinnings of neurodevelopmental disorders in which disruptions in both affect and reward can have detrimental effects. My laboratory explores functional disruptions in behavior and attempts to elucidate the underlying mechanistic factors responsible for these disruptions by utilizing a translational approach. As basic science and clinical findings continue to reveal the heterogeneity of the genetic underpinnings and behavioral symptoms in neurodevelopmental disorders, we are hopeful that our multidisciplinary approaches will allow for the design of individualized interventions for those with neurodevelopmental disorders.
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