Dr. Tallie Z. Baram's Research Description

Research Description
Research in the Baram lab has targeted two main topics, which converge on basic mechanisms and consequences of neuroplasticity evoked by early-life experience.

First, we study the mechanisms and consequences of abnormal excitability that are specific to the developmental period. Many important seizures occur only in infants and children but the mechanisms and consequences of these seizures are not yet known. Specifically, whether seizures early in life change the brain permanently, via functional or structural injury of vulnerable hippocampal neurons, has not been established.
An example of this type of seizure are those induced by fever (febrile seizures). The lab has established a successful rat/mouse animal model, providing powerful in vivo and in vitro (hippocampal culture) approaches to these questions, using molecular and neuroanatomic methods (see examples below), as well as electrophysiology. Changes in gene expression and function associated with developmental epilepsies, and the mechanisms of long-lasting neuronal plasticity and epileptogenesis are explored. These studies are highly important not only for understanding the function of the developing brain, but also because of obvious clinical relevance. The findings from the lab, involving graduate and postgraduate students, have been published top journals including Nature Medicine, J. Neuroscience, Trends in Neurosciences and Annals of Neurology.

A second focus in the lab centers on defining the molecular mechanisms by which the developing brain responds to stress and examining the long-term consequences of early-life stress. First, we study early changes in neuronal gene expression that acutely and persistently modulate the stress responses. In addition, we study the influence of early life stress on hippocampal learning and memory functions long-term using molecular, neuroanatomical and electrophysiological approaches. Previous studies from the lab (published in J. Neurosi, PNAS, Trends Neurosci, among others), have established the importance of the stress activated neuropeptide, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) in mediating stress-evoked neuronal activation and long-lasting plasticity. Current studies address the function of CRH in developing hippocampus, using genetically engineered mice and organotypic slice cultures.