| | Principal Investigators
| Heather Cameron, Ph.D. |
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Dr.
Cameron received her B.S. from Yale University and her
Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University, where she worked
with Bruce McEwen and Elizabeth Gould examining neurogenesis
in the adult rat dentate gyrus. During a postdoctoral
fellowship with Ron McKay at NINDS, she determined the
magnitude of adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and
investigated the effects of stress hormones on neurogenesis
in the aging rat hippocampus. Dr. Cameron joined the Mood
and Anxiety Disorders Program at NIMH as an
Investigator in 2001. |
| Research Interests |
| The work in Dr. Cameron's
laboratory is focused on understanding the function of adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus, one of the
few regions in the mammalian brain that is known to continue generating large numbers of new neurons
throughout life. The lab has recently found that neurons born in the adult dentate gyrus go through a
short period during which they are highly susceptible to cell death. The granule cells that survive this early
period and reach maturity live for a long time, replacing some of the granule neurons generated during
development. They are currently examining the roles of different aspects of hippocampus-dependent learning
and memory tasks on survival of the granule neurons during this early, immature, period. They hope to soon be
able to do the opposite, that is study the role of the new neurons in hippocampal function, using transgenic
mice. The lab is also beginning to use electrophysiological techniques to look at the properties of the
new granule neurons as they mature. Finally, they continue to be interested in exploring the relationships
between stress hormones, corticosteroids and the function of new granule neurons. |
| Representative Selected Recent Publications: |
- Christie BR, Cameron HA: Neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus.
Hippocampus, 2006, in press.
- Olariu A, Cleaver KM, Shore LE, Brewer MD, Cameron HA: A natural form of learning can increase and decrease the survival of new neurons in the dentate gyrus.
Hippocampus, 15: 750-762, 2005. (View PDF)
- Karten YJ, Olariu A, Cameron HA: Stress in early life inhibits neurogenesis in adulthood.
Trends Neurosci, 28: 171-172, 2005. (View PDF)
- Dayer AG, Cleaver KM, Abouantoun T, Cameron HA: GABAergic interneurons in the adult neocortex and striatum are generated from different precursors.
J Cell Biol, 168: 415-427, 2005. (View PDF)
- Dayer AG, Ford AA, Cleaver KM, Yassaee M, Cameron HA: Short-term and long-term survival of new neurons in the rat dentate gyrus.
J Comp Neurol, 460: 563-572, 2003. (View PDF)
- Cameron HA, McKay RD: Adult neurogenesis produces a large pool of new granule cells in the dentate gyrus.
J Comp Neurol, 435: 406-417, 2001. (View PDF)
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