Hunsberger Lab

🚨 SAVE THE DATE 🚨 Registration opening soon at chicagosfn.org

If you’re still around, I would love to chat about NPSs in Alzheimer’s disease and novel therapeutics for age-related mood disorders tonight! @acnporg.bsky.social #ACNP2026

#ACNP2026 love meeting up with this crew! 🌴🏝️

Thanks for always supporting, Aaron!

Closed out 2025 with 3 new publications! Proud to be a part of these collaborative teams.
www.mdpi.com/3042-4518/3/... (BZDs and dementia review)
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... (Lifestyle impact on the brain review)
www.intechopen.com/online-first... (LatinX Women in Research & Innovation)

Can't wait to read this!! Amazing.

Happening today!

So proud of all of our students and shout out to my team (Lainey, Kameron, Sasha) for mentoring!!

If you’re at #AAIC25, come stop 🛑 by and say 👋🏻. Let’s chat about neuropsychiatric symptoms in aging, AD, and menopause. #159 exhibit hall.

I’m really glad conferences started offering races ☺️! Technically my first race in a different country. Bucket list item ✅ #AAIC25

Combinatorial targeting of NMDARs and 5-HT4Rs exerts beneficial effects in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease - Alzheimer's Research & Therapy Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia. There are limited approved medications that delay cognitive decline or lessen neuropsychiatric symptoms. Numerous clinical trials ...

Excited to see this work out! Combination therapy could be the future of AD treatments. Loved being a part of this study during my time in the Denny lab bridging the ketamine and AD crews. alzres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

My favorite is the Summer lab explosion. I’m always impressed with the passion and new ideas from our summer interns and volunteers!! Thanks Tala Coffee Roasters for an awesome lab meeting space ☕️. Not pictured: My orange juice coffee combo 🤯.

We are now examining the role of interneurons in this circuit (SST!) and how repeated use impacts aged and AD mice.

Here, we examine the acute effects of Xanax on fear memory and activated neuronal ensembles. With a single injection, we found memory impairment in both males and females and alterations in hippocampal encoding and retrieval cell activation, specifically in females.

The aged population is heavily prescribed benzodiazepines (BZDs) for treatment of anxiety, but BZD use can result in memory impairments. While BZDs can be beneficial, long-term use might not be helpful in a population at risk for memory decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Alprazolam induces anterograde amnesia for contextual fear memory and alters dorsoventral hippocampal neuronal ensembles in female mice - Scientific Reports Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are commonly prescribed anxiolytic drugs that act on GABAa receptors, and can result in anterograde amnesia, or the inability to form new memories. While BZDs have been used for...

🚨NEW PAPER🚨 Huge congrats to Kameron Kaplan on his first first-author data paper and @lainey10yes.bsky.social on her first ever publication!! Seriously so proud of this lab always. Summary below (2-4).
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Vasopressin and oxytocin excite BNST neurons via oxytocin receptors, which reduce anxious arousal AVP and OT regulate essential physiological functions. Francesconi and Olivera-Pasilio et al., demonstrate that AVP and OT inputs excite the BNST via OTR. The OTR-expressing BNST neurons reduce anxiou...

Our Lab’s five years of work is out! www.cell.com/cell-reports...
🥳 Vasopressin (AVP) excites BNST neurons via oxytocin receptor (and not V1aR or V1bR)
🔬AVP excites CRF-BNST and OTR-BNST neurons
🧠 AVP inputs from SCN and SON excite BNST via OTR
🐁 OTR-BNST neurons reduce anxious arousal in male rats

Alzheimer's prevention day was a success. Thank you to all who joined! YouTube link for those interested: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDoQ...

Happening today!!
rosalindfranklin.zoom.us/j/9673131666...

Join the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease and Therapeutics for a roundtable discussion on lifestyle and brain health! This is open to the community and zoom link included. #ADPREVENTION #ENDALZ @rfuniversity.bsky.social @rfubrainsci.bsky.social

Congrats to Perla on passing her honors thesis with Distinction!! So proud to see our first student leave the nest. Perla was our first summer Inspire intern from @lakeforestcollege.bsky.social 🥹.

Honored for the research highlight! www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...

Go @lainey10yes.bsky.social !! The best STOP THE CLOT ambassador. Great minority health talk about the risk of blood clots. Thank you for sharing your story 🙏

(2/2) Kameron, grad student, won first place poster at the Chicago Society for Neuroscience! #ProudPI

(1/2) Took a little break from science social media, but I don't want to miss opportunities to share good news in a sea of bad. We welcomed a new lab member 👶, stood up for science and @lainey10yes.bsky.social was featured on the news (so proud), sciartwork chosen for ASRC marketing, and

Happy 2025 all! Honored to be featured in the final Illinois Women Conquer Alz newsletter of 2024. Excited for the lab in 2025. We’ve got some fun projects in the works and in grants. Speaking into existence that 2025 will be the year of our R01 🙏😅@alzassociation.bsky.social

Hi all! 5th year, previous travel awardee, interested in aging, Alzheimer’s, and women’s health. Come check out our new work using psilocybin as a therapeutic for Alzheimer’s! Poster M173 Monday night. 🍄🧠

Hunsberger Lab slowly shifting over! Bringing the humor with us 😂

Hi #Neuroskyence 👋🏻 Excited to check out this new platform! I’m an Assistant Professor at Rosalind Franklin University. Interested in all things sex differences/Aging/Alzheimer’s disease. Below is a little about me 👇🏻