Travel Awards

Name: Hazal Arpaci, MS
University: University of Iowa
Department: Psychological and Brain Sciences
Program or Lab: Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience-NAP Lab
Mentor or PI: Dr. Bengi Baran

Poster Title: “Anxiety Alters NREM Sleep Oscillations in Young Adults”

Sleep is essential for emotional regulation, and even one night of sleep deprivation can heighten anxiety and impair affective processing. However, the role of Non-REM sleep (NREM) oscillations in sleep-dependent emotion regulation remains unclear. In this study, we examined whether NREM oscillations are altered in individuals with heightened trait anxiety and how they relate to emotional memory, anxiety symptoms, and negative affect. Forty-two non-help-seeking young adults (M = 19.3, SD = 1.8 years; 77% female) with high (n = 26) vs. moderate-to-low (n = 16) trait anxiety were monitored with sleep EEG during a 2-hour midday nap. Slow oscillations (SOs), and sleep spindles during NREM 2 and NREM 3 stages of sleep were quantified, and participants completed a sleep-dependent emotional memory task, and reported anxiety (STAI) and affect (PANAS) levels upon awakening. Across the sample, greater SO activity was associated with lower state anxiety (pcorrected=.046, 7 electrodes), and negative affect (pcorrected=.045, 7 electrodes), while higher spindle activity correlated with increased anxiety and negative affect. The high-anxiety group exhibited reduced SO activity (pcorrected =.04, 6 electrodes) and delta power (pcorrected=.04, 21 electrodes), but no differences in sleep-dependent emotional memory consolidation or sleep architecture was observed. These findings suggest that SOs may play an anxiolytic role, with greater activity linked to reduced anxiety and negative affect. Additionally, reduced SO activity in highly anxious individuals may reflect a potential biomarker or intervention target for anxiety symptoms. Understanding the mechanisms underlying this relationship could inform future treatments leveraging NREM sleep to enhance mental health.

Name: Kush V. Bhatt, MD
University: University of California, San Diego
Department: Psychiatry
Program or Lab: VA San Diego Neuromodulation Program
Mentor or PI: Dhakshin Ramanathan MD, PhD

Poster Title: “Ketamine-Occasioned Mystical Experience In Veterans With Treatment-Resistant Depression”

Mystical experiences are powerful psychological experiences that may have therapeutic value. However, limited research has explored these phenomena in the context of ketamine treatment. We examined the occurrence of mystical experiences in Veterans with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) receiving ketamine treatment. Clinical data from 60 Veterans who underwent a total of 189 ketamine treatments were analyzed. Veterans received either intranasal esketamine or racemic ketamine (intravenous or intramuscular). The Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30) was administered following treatment to assess the presence and intensity of mystical experiences. A linear mixed model was used to evaluate the relationship between MEQ-30 scores and treatment-related factors, including treatment number, dose, co-morbid PTSD, pre-treatment PHQ-9 scores, age, and gender. Complete mystical experiences were reported in 17.0% of esketamine treatments and 18.2% of racemic ketamine treatments. In the esketamine group, a greater number of treatment sessions was associated with higher MEQ-30 scores (p = 0.05). In the racemic ketamine group, higher doses were significantly correlated with greater MEQ-30 scores (p = 0.002). These findings suggest that ketamine can induce mystical experiences in Veterans with TRD, and that treatment-related variables such as dose and session number may influence this effect. Further research is needed to clarify the role of mystical experiences in ketamine’s therapeutic efficacy and their potential contribution to treatment outcomes.

Name: Jairo Chavez, BS
University: University of California Davis
Department: Psychology
Program or Lab: Foxlab
Mentor or PI: Andrew S. Fox

Poster Title: “Quantifying Behaviors in Non-Human Primates Using Deep Learning”

Background: Anxiety disorders are prevalent and debilitating, affecting one in four individuals and increasing the risk of depressive disorders and substance abuse. Behavioral inhibition, characterized by wariness or avoidance of unfamiliar situations, is a risk factor for anxiety disorders. To better understand anxiety, we study non-human primates (Macaca mulatta), whose behavioral complexity, social structures, and physiological similarities to humans make them invaluable models. Advances in machine learning and computer vision provide unprecedented insights into behavior, reducing the need for manual annotations. Deep learning can track individuals and identify significant behaviors indicative of anxiogenic phenotypes.
Methods: We present novel approaches to applying machine learning for behavior quantification in non-human primates using deep learning, timeseries analysis, and UMAP clustering during the no-eye-contact condition of the human-intruder paradigm (n = 141).
Results: We successfully coded freezing behavior and analyzed posture to identify behavioral motifs. Using dynamic thresholding, median cluster sizes were retained, yielding 2,673 clusters and preserving 48.01% of all clusters. Each motif appeared in an average of 11.67 subjects. Several motifs correlated with freezing (p<.05), providing additional insight into behavioral responses to potential threats.
Conclusions: These advancements offer scalable methods for analyzing complex behaviors in unrestrained, naturalistic settings. Real-world conditions, where anxiety develops, are critical for broad-based insights into non-human primate behavior. Ultimately, these approaches may transform how we study anxiety and related behaviors in naturalistic environments.

Name: Kerstin C. Creutzberg, PhD
University: University of Colorado
Department: Department of Psychiatry
Program or Lab: Laboratory of Translational Psychiatry
Mentor or PI: Tracy L. Bale

Poster Title: “Cellular mechanisms linking paternal stress with reproductive function and embryo development”

Stress is an important determinant of human behavior and physiology and can lead to long-term health issues. In males, studies have identified prolonged effects of stress on reproductive somatic cells that can influence offspring development. Within the epididymis, sperm undergo a critical maturation process facilitated by factors secreted into the caput lumen by epididymal epithelial cells (EECs). Our previous work demonstrated that paternal stress exposure disrupted offspring neurodevelopment and altered adult stress responsivity. However, the mechanistic link between stress-induced epididymal changes and sperm function remains poorly understood. To mechanistically examine this, we utilized a transgenic chemogenetic mouse model to mimic the cellular effects of stress by chronically increasing EEC intracellular calcium signaling thereby increasing sperm mitochondrial activation and extracellular vesicle secretion. We employed chronic activation of caput EECs (LCN5-expressing cells) that express the Gq-coupled Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD) receptor hM3Dq. Remarkably, we found that chronic treatment with the DREADD ligand clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) induced changes in sperm mitochondrial signal intensity. Additionally, DREADD males exhibited enhanced reproductive function, as evidenced by larger litters. These findings suggest that EECs respond to environmental cues and regulate sperm function, potentially mediating the effects of paternal stress on offspring. Understanding this pathway provides key insights into how paternal experiences may shape reproductive outcomes and ultimately offspring neurodevelopment, linking epididymal signaling to intergenerational stress transmission.

Name: Olivia Imberger, BS
University: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Psychiatry
Program or Lab: Women’s Mental Health Program
Mentor or PI: Dr. Zachary Stowe

Poster Title: “Women’s Perinatal Experiences with Media-Based Information”

This qualitative study examined shame among women during the perinatal period in response to
media-related information. Eleven women ages 18 – 45 enrolled in this study and were either pregnant or up to three months postpartum. 81.8% of participants were cohabiting and 54.5% were multigravida. Participants underwent semi-structured audio-recorded interviews that included topics related to accessing information about pregnancy and postpartum via online platforms. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using inductive content analysis. In contrast to our original assumptions, participants described media-related information as relatable and supportive to participants’ needs. Participants stated platforms, such as Reddit (18.2%), Facebook (18.2%), Tik Tok (18.2%), and general information applications
(45.5%), were useful. Furthermore, participants reported mainly positive experiences with online websites (36.4%) such as PubMed or MayoClinic. These findings pose a challenge with respect to where to provide information to patients, especially on polarizing topics related to the perinatal period. The design of this qualitative study allowed participants to respond apart from researcher biases, which a quantitative investigation may elicit. Using qualitative methods to examine patient responses regarding the perinatal period is useful in collecting nuanced experiential data. Further research is encouraged to assess which modality of online platforms would be most effective for patient intervention.

Name: Satish Jaiswal, PhD
University: University of California San Diego
Department: Psychiatry
Program or Lab: Neural Engineering and Translation Labs (NEATLabs)
Mentor or PI: Dr. Jyoti Mishra

Poster Title: “A Multimodal Intervention (mediTMS) of Breath-focused Mindfulness and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Treatment-resistant Depression (TRD) Patients”

Approximately 33% of depressed individuals do not respond to conventional pharmacological treatments and after multiple antidepressant trials become treatment-resistant. Several studies on depression characteristics have shown that breath-focused mindfulness can ameliorate ruminative symptoms of depression that stem from hyperactive default mode network (DMN) functioning. Further, it has been shown that impaired executive control functioning of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in depression can be improved by the FDA-approved intermittent theta burst neuro-stimulation protocol (iTBS). Therefore, in this study, we sought to combine mindfulness practice, delivered digitally, with iTBS stimulation as a treatment for TRD. We compared this multimodal intervention (mediTMS, n=26) with a iTBS TMS intervention combined with a sham mindfulness control that emphasized deep breathing instead of attentive breath focus (sham mediTMS, n=26). Participants in both arms completed 30 iTBS sessions alongside their digital training. Participants completed baseline and post-intervention sessions of neuro-cognitive assessments with simultaneous EEG recordings, and additionally completed mental health surveys evaluating depression, anxiety, state mindfulness, inattentive behaviors and sleep. We observed that both groups showed improvement in depression and anxiety symptoms, but only the mediTMS group showed improvement in state mindfulness, inattention and sleep measures. Cognitively, the mediTMS group showed improved processing efficiency on a selective attention task while the sham mediTMS subjects did not show this effect. Neural analyses underlying these effects are ongoing and will be presented at the symposium.

Name: Agnieszka Kalinowski, MD, PhD
University: Stanford University
Department: Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Program or Lab: Adult Psychiatry
Mentor or PI: Alexander Urban, Phillipe Mourrain, Jong Yoon

Poster Title: “Synapses as a therapeutic target for schizophrenia”

C4A upregulation is hypothesized to exert is effect in Schizophrenia (SZ) by excessive synaptic
pruning(1,2,12). However, the synaptic pruning hypothesis does not fully explain the effects of C4A upregulation(1,13–15): Evidence from large transcriptomic analysis suggests high C4A gene expression may be mediating low synaptic density through downregulation of select synaptic genes (7). Using virally-induced neurons (iNs) generated from induced pluripotent stem cells, we observed that induction of C4A expression either by plasmid overexpression or chemical stimulation (using IFN-g, a known C4 inducer(16,17)) resulted in decreased mRNA expression of GRIN2A and CACNA1 in induced neurons (iNs) cultured without microglia. Differential gene expression (DEG) analyses of RNA-seq of the untreated iNs compared to those treated with IFN-g or transfected with C4A overexpressing plasmid overlap with GWAS-loci in Syngo (annotated database of synaptic genes). More specifically, C4A protein overexpression downregulates a fraction of the DEGs compared to IFN-g, suggesting that the C4A protein (or mRNA) may be exerting an effect on synaptic gene downregulation. A functional intracellular role for C4A protein (or mRNA) has never been shown previously, though intracellular roles for complement proteins are emerging(18). This work could highlight an alternative treatment target for SZ that does not rely on blocking synaptic pruning by inhibiting microglia to interfere with the pathological effects of high C4A gene expression. Future work testing the correlation between high C4A gene expression and low synaptic density in iNs and postmortem brain tissue will be introduced.

Name: Maltesh Kambali, PhD
University: University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
Department: Comparative Biosciences
Program or Lab: Neuropsychopharmacology lab
Mentor or PI: Dr. Uwe Rudolph

Poster Title: “Modulation of Anxiety and Fear via Distinct Intrahippocampal Projections to Ventral CA1”

Anxiety and fear are distinct emotional states triggered by different factors. The ventral hippocampus is known to be involved in the modulation of anxiety- and fear-related behaviors. Previously, we showed that inhibiting dentate gyrus and CA3 principal neurons through α2-containing GABAA receptors (α2-GABAARs) is necessary for the reduction of anxiety by diazepam, whereas inhibition of CA1 pyramidal neurons via α2-GABAARs is necessary for diazepam-induced suppression of fear responses. In this study, we wanted to test the hypothesis that while the CA3 to CA1 projection would modulate anxiety-related behavior, the direct projection from EC to CA1 would modulate fear-related behavior. To test this hypothesis, we used optogenetics to modulate ventral intrahippocampal projections bidirectionally. Adult C57BL/6J mice underwent bilateral stereotaxic viral injection expressing channelrhodopsin or halorhodopsion into vCA3 or into layers II-III of entorhinal cortex, followed by bilateral implantation of fiberoptic ferrules into vCA1. After three weeks of recovery, activation of the vCA3 to vCA1 projection decreased anxiety- and increased fear-related behavior, while inhibition of this projection increased anxiety- and decreased fear-related behavior. Optogenetic activation or inhibition of the EC to vCA1 projection did not affect anxiety-related behavior. In contrast, optogenetic activation or inhibition of the EC to vCA1 projection increased or decreased fear-related behavior. The behavior of the mice was recorded under laser ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ conditions in all experiments. These results suggest that while fear-related behavior is modulated by both inputs to vCA1, modulation of anxiety-related behavior is input-specific for the vCA3 to vCA1 projection.

Name: Mohsen Poorganji, PhD
University: University of California San Diego
Department: Psychiatry
Program or Lab: Interventional Psychiatry
Mentor or PI: Dr. Zafiris J. Daskalakis

Poster Title: “Treatment Prediction for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Major Depressive Disorder using rest EEG and Convolution Neural Network”

The development of objective, physiological biomarkers of treatment response is lacking for patients major depressive disorder (MDD). Resting-state electroencephalography (rsEEG) is a non-invasive and cost-effective imaging modality that holds promise in this regard. This study investigates whether rsEEG connectivity, calculated using inter-site phase clustering (ISPC), could differentiate MDD patients from healthy controls. Using convolution neural networks
(CNN), a deep learning neural network algorithm, this study also investigated whether rsEEG connectivity prior to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment could discriminate treatment responders from non-responders. Network analysis was conducted on the publicly available Two Decades-Brainclinics Research Archive for Insights in Neurophysiology (TDBRAIN) database. This study included 129 MDD patients who had undergone rTMS treatment and 45 healthy controls (HC). Patients received rTMS treatment over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Results demonstrated significant differences in connectivity patterns between HC and MDD patients within theta and alpha frequency bands. Significant pre-treatment differences in connectivity were also observed between rTMS responders and non-responders in the delta band. The CNN demonstrated reasonable performance in predicting treatment response. Across 50 iterations of cross-validation (using a 90% training and 10% hold-out split), the model achieved an average accuracy of 78%. The model also performed reasonably well on internal hold-out datasets, which were never exposed to the model, achieving an accuracy of 69%. These findings demonstrate the potential of incorporating rsEEG, in conjunction with machine learning, as an objective biomarker into clinical decision-making for MDD.

Name: Kenneth Wang, BA
University: The University of Chicago
Department: Biological Sciences Department
Program or Lab: Pritzker School of Medicine
Mentor or PI: Royce Lee, MD

Poster Title: “Electrophysiological Measures of Error Processing Following Low-Dose LSD Administration”

Classic psychedelics have demonstrated promise in elucidating neuropharmacological mechanisms and in treating psychiatric disorders such as depression, which may involve overactive error processing. Administration of low doses of psychedelics reportedly improves cognition and mood. However, the effects of psychedelics on error processing, in particular the error-related negativity (ERN), correct-related negativity (CRN), and error-related positivity (Pe), have not been examined. The present study investigated how administration of low doses of LSD modulates electrophysiological correlates of error processing. We conducted a within-subject, double-blind study of 18 healthy adults, using electroencephalogram to measure neural responses to error during the electrophysiological monetary incentive delay (eMID) task. Participants completed the task after drug administration of, in randomized order, placebo, 13 µg LSD (LSD-13), or 26 µg LSD (LSD-26). The ERN/CRN and Pe were measured during response processing. Compared to placebo, LSD-13 and LSD-26 attenuated Pe difference wave amplitude but had no effect on ERN/CRN. Pe amplitude was greater for the Hit (vs. Miss) outcome, while ERN/CRN amplitudes were similar across outcomes. Thus, both doses of LSD reduced the ERP component associated with conscious error processing (Pe) without affecting those reflecting automatic error detection (ERN/CRN). These results are the first to demonstrate that low-dose LSD may decrease neural correlates of error processing, with implications for treatment of psychiatric disorders. This is the first study to utilize the eMID to examine error-related brain activity, which may explain the unusual similarity of ERN/CRN amplitude across Hit and Miss conditions, and the unexpected direction of Pe amplitude difference.

Name: Kylee West, MS
University: University of Iowa
Department: Department of Health and Human Physiology
Program or Lab: Integrative Laboratory of Applied Physiology & Lifestyle Medicine
Mentor or PI: Nathaniel Jenkins

Poster Title: “Psychological Resilience Modulates the Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Endothelial Function and Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species in Young Adults”

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are severe psychosocial stressors during childhood that promote impaired vascular endothelial function (VEF) and are associated with reduced psychological resilience. Chronic psychosocial stress induces metabolic and neurohumoral mediators that functionally alter mitochondria, which could promote generation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) that impair VEF. Purpose: To examine the role of psychological resilience on VEF and mtROS in young adults with versus without prior ACE exposure. Methods: Apparently healthy, young adults (age=24±5 y; BMI=26±5 kg/m2) with ≥3 ACEs (ACE+) and without ACEs (ACE-; n=11) completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. ACE+ individuals were grouped into high (ACE+HR; n=6) and low (ACE+LR; n=6) resilience groups using median split. In vivo VEF was assessed using the flow mediated dilation technique. In ex vivo experiments, human aortic endothelial cells were cultured with 10% participant serum, stained with CellROX, and imaged to measure mtROS. CD-RISC scores, VEF, and mtROS were compared among groups using one-way ANOVAs with post-hoc comparisons. Results: Compared to ACE–, resilience was lower in ACE+LR (mean±SE difference = -17±6 au; p=0.03) but wasn’t different in ACE+HR (-2±6; p=0.93). Compared to ACE–, VEF (-4.9±1%; p=0.0099) and mtROS (-191±60 au;
p=0.012) were lower in ACE+LR, whereas VEF (-1.9±1%; p=0.44) and mtROS (-71±60 au; p=0.47) were not different in ACE+HR. Conclusions: These data provide initial evidence supporting impaired VEF and paradoxical reductions in mtROS in individuals with prior ACE exposure and low psychological resilience. However, high psychological resilience may buffer the physiological effects of ACE exposure.