Kate Webb, PhD

This study investigated if exposure to traumatic stress altered brain activity to basic visual stimulation. The authors found that recent trauma survivors showed altered activity within the visual cortex compared to controls. Further, visual cortex reactivity was associated with PTSD symptoms. These Traumatic stress alters neural reactivity to visual stimulation

Let's start the weekend with another episode of the DPN Deep Dive!

This one summarizes work by @nateurneuro.bsky.social & @brainstorm12.bsky.social‬ et al showing that trauma exposure may disrupt more basic visual processing which may contribute to PTSD symptom development

youtu.be/GiKJl3YDZv0...

Federal funding plays a critical role in supporting life-saving research. In the recent APA Div56 newsletter, we outline how Trump policies place trauma research at risk and emphasize the importance of collective action.

apatraumadivision.org/spring-2025-...

Harvard has launched their lawsuit. It’s a good one.

www.harvard.edu/research-fun...

Structural covariance of early visual cortex is negatively associated with PTSD symptoms: A Mega-Analysis from the ENIGMA PTSD workgroup. Background: Identifying robust neural signatures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms is important to facilitate precision psychiatry and help in understanding and treatment of the disorde...

In exciting news (for me), we demonstrate a structural covariance network of early visual cortex previously identified in recent trauma survivors is associated with PTSD symptoms in a mega-analysis of the ENIGMA-PTSD dataset.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Associations between residential segregation, ambient air pollution, and hippocampal features in recent trauma survivors Background: Residential segregation is associated with differential exposure to air pollution. Hippocampus structure and function are highly susceptible to pollutants and associated with posttraumatic...

New preprint with @nateurneuro.bsky.social and the AURORA study team. We find that residential segregation is associated with alterations in hippocampal microstructure and threat reactivity through increased exposure to PM2.5 and NO2. Public health 🤝 neuroscience. medrxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Trying to preprint more, starting with some of our work looking at reactivity to visual stimulation in recent trauma survivors. Findings suggest trauma exposure may induce acute changes to non-affective stimulation. w/ @irosso.bsky.social & @brainstorm12.bsky.social

doi.org/10.21203/rs....

And shoutout to BBC Africa for the photo summary on IG!

www.instagram.com/bbcafrica/p/...

How giant rats in mini vests help sniff out crime A nonprofit in Tanzania is training African giant rats in scent detection to fight wildlife trafficking.

Thanks BBC for highlighting our recent work in this video!
www.bbc.com/reel/video/p...

a black and white image of a brain with a blue line going through it ALT: a black and white image of a brain with a blue line going through it

The lab uses multimodal #neuroimaging, ecological momentary assessments, geospatial analyses (greenspace, air pollution, segregation etc), and (epi)genetic methods. We work with diverse datasets of all sizes and are growing our current global mental health work (Tanzania and South Africa)!

Finally left the other place...

Hi, I'm Kate! 👋 I'm a #newAssistantProfessor in #Psychiatry at Duke University. Our lab (The BEES Lab) conducts research to determine how socioenvironmental factors influence the development of stress and trauma-related disorders and the utility of biomarkers.