Kudos to the department of pharmacology! M. Danet Lapiz, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow, and Saloua Benmansour, Ph.D., research instructor, are the recipients of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression’s (NARSAD) 2006 Young Investigator Grant Awards. NARSAD's Young Investigator Award Program provides support for the most promising young scientists conducting neurobiological research.
Dr. Lapiz researches in the lab of David Morilak, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology. Her recognition and grant award will allow her to study the “Effects of Chronic Cold Stress on Cognitive Flexibility in the Rat Attentional Set Shifting and Reversal with Chronic Antidepressant Treatment.” The study uses an animal model to investigate the cognitive dysfunction seen in depression.
“My study addresses possible brain mechanisms involved in the cognitive dysfunction associated with depression and how antidepressant drugs affect these systems,” Dr. Lapiz said. “I am especially grateful to NARSAD for this grant, which gives me the opportunity to further research in this field.” This year, Dr. Lapiz received the Young Scientist Travel Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics to present her work at the Experimental Biology 2006 conference. She was also the recipient of the Best Poster Presentation Award at the Center for Biomedical Neuroscience’s Fourth Annual Retreat.
Dr. Benmansour received an extraordinary second grant award from the NARSAD for her study “Influence of Ovarian Hormones on the Interaction Between Antidepressants and Serotonin Transporter.”
Vulnerability to depression in some women is associated with hormone fluctuations, which may be mediated by ovarian hormones, Dr. Benmansour said. “Blockade of serotonin transporter (SERT) function by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac is the initial event that triggers a process, which is still not completely understood, that results in clinical improvement of depression. Nearly twice as many women as men are affected by depressive illness each year.”
The NARSAD grants one- and two-year awards up to $30,000 per year to enable promising investigators to either extend research fellowship training or begin careers as independent research faculty.
