2025 Neuroscience Seminar Series underway
Delaware State University and the Interdisciplinary Health Equity Research Center proudly present the 2025 Neuroscience Seminar Series. The series will feature six talks presented by leading neuroscience experts from universities across the country, each exploring different topics at the forefront of neuroscience research.
The series is hosted by Dr. Hakeem Lawal and Dr. Janeese Brownlow and is made possible through the Interdisciplinary Health Equity Research Center.
The first seminar will take place this month on January 23 at 11:00 a.m. at Room 139 (Auditorium) of the Science Center and will feature University of Delaware associate professor Dr. Dayan Knox:
“Uncovering circuits and mechanisms that facilitate sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity”
“While it has been known that women are more likely to develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after trauma, mechanisms via which this sex difference manifests are not well understood. This is especially so in preclinical models where many paradigms and stress protocols that are effective in males are not effective in female model systems. In this talk, I describe how the single prolonged stress (SPS) model of PTSD has been used in my lab (in conjunction with behavioral, neuroscience, and in vivo MRI techniques) to understand sex difference in traumatic stress reactivity.”
Speaker Biography
Dayan Knox, Ph. D., is an associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Knox completed his undergraduate schooling at North Carolina Central University; master’s and Ph. D. training at The Ohio State University; and postdoctoral study at the University of Michigan Medical School.
His research interests concern stress and learning and memory. Peripheral hormones and central ascending arousal systems contribute to emotional learning and memory. These systems are also sensitive to stress, and under certain circumstances, may contribute to emotional memory processes that contribute to psychiatric disorders (e.g., PTSD, substance abuse). Knox explores how stress-induced changes in peripheral hormonal, ascending arousal, and emotional circuit systems contribute to stress-induced effects that model specific symptoms in psychiatric disorders.
For more information on upcoming seminars, click here.