Achievements

Current Position

Postdoctoral Scientist

Laboratory: Christine Ann Denny, Ph.D.

Areas of specialization: sex differences, affective and fear disorders, behavioral neuroscience, learning and memory, in vivo calcium imaging, molecular biology, mouse breeding and genetics, immunohistochemistry, confocal microscropy, MATLAB/R/Python programming

Education

Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University

New York, NY

M.A. / M.Phil. in Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University

New York, NY

B.S. in Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Minor in French

Boston, MA

Agnes Irwin School

Bryn Mawr, PA

Fellowships and Awards

Forbes 30 Under 30: Class of 2023, Healthcare

American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Editorial Intern

American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Travel Award

Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) / International Brain Research Organization (IBRO)-Pan Europe Regional Committee (PERC) Travel Grant

Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD) Travel Award

Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) Travel Award

University of Utah Rising Star in Neuroscience Award

Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV) Fellowship

F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Fellowship

International Society for Serotonin Research (ISSR) Travel Award

International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) Travel Award

International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS) Young Investigator Travel Award

Kavli Foundation Society for Neuroscience Travel Award

NCAA Division I Patriot League Women’s Rowing Academic Honor Roll

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellowship

Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Scholar-Athlete Award

National Merit Finalist

Publications

PubMed Bibliography

Google Scholar

OrcID

Leal Santos S, Chen BK*, Pereira GR, Pham V, Denny CA. Propranolol administration modulates neural activity in the hippocampal hilus during fear retrieval. Front Behav Neurosci. 2022; 16:919831. PMID: 35874651.

*co-first author

Chen BK, Luna VM, Shannon ME, Hunsberger HC, Mastrodonato AM, Stackmann M, McGowan JC, Rubinstenn G, Denny CA. Fluoroethylnormemantine, a novel NMDA receptor antagonist, for the prevention and treatment of stress-induced maladaptive behavior. Biol Psychiatry. 2021 Oct 1;90(7):458-472. PMID: 34274107.

Chen BK, Le Pen G, Eckmier A, Rubinstenn G, Jay TM, Denny CA. Fluoroethylnormemantine, a novel derivative of memantine, facilitates extinction learning without sensorimotor deficits. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2021 Feb 25;pyab007. PMID: 33631001.

Santos SL, Stackmann M, Zamora AM, Mastrodonato A, De Landri AV, Vaughan N, Chen BK, Lanio M, Denny CA. Propranolol decreases fear expression by modulating fear memory traces. Biol Psychiatry. 2021 Jan 20;S0006-3223(21):00047-0. PMID: 33766406.

Anacker C, Sydnor E, Chen BK, LaGamma CT, McGowan JC, Mastrodonato A, Hunsberger HC, Shores R, Dixon RS, McEwen BS, Byne W, Meyer-Bahlburg HFL, Bockting W, Ehrhardt AA, Denny CA. Behavioral and neurobiological effects of GnRH agonist treatment in mice – potential implications for puberty suppression in transgender individuals. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021 Apr;46(5):882-890. PMID: 32919399.

Chen BK, Luna VM, LaGamma CT, Xu X, Deng SX, Suckow RF, Cooper TB, Shah A, Brachman RA, Mendez-David I, David DJ, Gardier AM, Landry DW, Denny CA. Sex-specific neurobiological actions of prophylactic (R,S)-ketamine, (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine, and (2S,6S)-hydroxynorketamine. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2020 Aug;45(9):1545-1556. PMID: 32417852.

Chen BK, Mendez-David I, Luna VM, Faye C, Gardier AM, David DJ, Denny CA. Prophylactic efficacy of 5-HT4R agonists against stress. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2020 Feb;45(3):542-555. PMID: 31600767.

Chen BK, Murawski N, Cincotta C, McKissick O, Finkelstein A, Hamidi AB, Merfeld E, Doucette E, Grella SL, Shpokaye M, Zaki Y, Fortin A, Ramirez S. Bidirectional enhancement and suppression of positive and negative memories. Curr Biol. 2019 Jun 3;29(11):1885-1894. PMID: 31130452.

Anacker C, Luna VM, Stevens GS, Millette A, Shores R, Jimenez JC Chen BK, Hen R. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis confers stress resilience by inhibiting ventral dentate gyrus activity. Nature. 2018 Jul;559(7712):98-102. PMID: 29950730.

Invited Presentations

Ventral CA3 mediates contextual fear learning and discrimination in female mice. Zuckerman Institute Hippocampus Club; 2022 Oct 12.

The VPAC2 receptor mediates resilience to stress in female, but not male mice. Pavlovian Society Meeting; Milwaukee, WI; 2022 Oct 1.

Developing novel prophylactic interventions for the prevention of stress-induced psychiatric disease. University of Utah Rising Stars in Neuroscience Seminar; Salt Lake City, UT; 2022 May 16.

Artificially enhancing or suppressing hippocampus-mediated memories. Neuroscience course: “Molecular and cellular mechanisms of learning and memory”; Boston University; Virtual seminar; 2021 March 30.

Novel prophylactic interventions for the prevention of stress-induced psychiatric disorders. Depression & Affective Neuroscience Seminar (DANS) series; New York, NY; 2020 September 25.

Developing novel prophylactics against stress-induced psychiatric disorders. Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) Board of Advisors; New York, NY; 2020 March 4.

Ovarian hormones mediate the prophylactic efficacy of (R,S)-ketamine and (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine in female mice. International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) conference; Cairns, Australia; 2019 June 25.

Developing sex-specific prophylactics against stress-induced neuropsychiatric disorders. Science on Tap seminar series; Boston, MA; 2019 July 11.

Patents

Compositions and methods for the prevention of stress-induced fear, depressive-like and anxiety-like behavior, PCT/US21/26184

Compositions and methods for the prevention of stress-induced fear, depressive-like and anxiety-like behavior, 63/006,594

Pharmacological prophylactics against stress-induced affective disorders in females, 16/761,338

Compositions and methods against stress-induced affective disorders and their associated symptoms, PCT/US20/032886

Prophylactic efficacy of serotonin 4 receptor agonists against stress, PCT/US20/027321

RS67333 (1-(4-Amino-5-chloro-2-methoxyphenyl)-3-[1-butyl-4-piperidinyl]-1-propanone hydrochloride) as a prophylactic and anxiolytic compound, 62/831,517

Serotonin receptor type IV (5-HT4) agonists are prophylactic against stress-induced and anxiety-like behavior, 62/857,075

Prophylactic efficacy of 5-HT4R agonists against stress, 62/910,859

Prophylactic efficacy of FENM against stress-induced depression, 62/848,406

Prophylactic efficacy of FENM against stress-induced depression, 62/861,765

Pharmacological prophylactics against stress-induced affective disorders in females, PCT/US18/060082

(R,S)-ketamine and (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine are efficacious as prophylactics against stress- induced depressive-like behavior in female mice, 62/583,774

Funding

NIMH F31 MH121023 The PACAP signaling pathway as a novel regulator of the neural circuits underlying fear generalization

Columbia Translational Therapeutics Accelerator (TRx) Synthetic design of a novel, resilience-enhancing small molecular therapeutic to target 5-HT4Rs

Columbia Biomedical Accelerator Prophylactic drugs to prevent the development of stress-induced mood and anxiety disorders