News from Abel Lab

 Dr. JaeKyoon Kim awarded BBRF Young Investigator Grants.

Jaekyoon received 2024 Young Investigator Grants from The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.  Detail of his proposed project is described in the accouchement as following ...

Jaekyoon Kim, Ph.D., University of Iowa, wants to better understand cellular and molecular mechanisms of repetitive behaviors, a defining symptom in ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia, and OCD. One challenge in investigating repetitive behavior in mice is the lack of valid behavioral assays. This project uses rotarod training to provide a quantitative and continuous measure of the acquisition of repetitive behavior via forced motor activity. The rotarod is a behavioral task based on a rotating rod, like a treadmill, that the animal must stay on for as long as possible. The experiments proposed seek to identify molecular mechanisms, celltype-specific contributions, and circuit-specific patterns of neuronal activity during the acquisition of repetitive behavior in mice that model 16p11.2 deletion syndrome. The hope is to characterize the role of striatal circuits as key mediators of repetitive behaviors and identify potential therapeutic targets for their amelioration.