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featuring
Join us on Tuesday, December 8, 2026
from 11am-12pm ET for a Live Webinar
Featuring Katy Lenz, PhD
This webinar remains free for current PNIRS members. A $10 registration fee now applies to non-members.
Title: Neural-Glial Interactions and the Programming of Long-lasting Behavioral Outcomes after Early Adversity and Pediatric Brain Injury
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as familial instability, neglect, and abuse, are experienced by roughly two-thirds of Americans, and are linked to elevated risk for mood disorders, substance use, cognitive and social dysfunction. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of pediatric emergency room visits for children under 10 years old and subsequently increases rates of psychiatric disorders and social difficulties. ACEs and pediatric TBI often co-occur and ACEs worsen TBI outcomes, yet few studies have assessed their synergistic relationship or the mechanistic underpinnings of their effects on behavior. We have used preclinical rodent studies to investigate the neurobiology through which early life stress & pediatric TBI exposure impact development of limbic brain regions to shape behavioral dysfunction, with a mechanistic focus on glial cells. This talk will provide an overview of our work demonstrating wide-ranging behavioral, neuroanatomical, physiological, and transcriptomic outcomes in this two-hit model, which provide new insight into the mechanisms of brain development after early life perturbations.
About the Speakers
Dr. Lenz received her PhD from Indiana University and completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She has been a faculty member in the Psychology Department at The Ohio State University since 2013 and was recently promoted to the rank of Professor. She also serves as the Director of the Neuroscience Undergraduate Program. Research in the Lenz lab focuses on how immune, endocrine and nervous systems interact during critical periods of plasticity, including early life, adolescence, and pregnancy, to program normative brain and behavioral function, or shift that trajectory in response to perturbations of relevance to psychiatric and behavioral outcomes, including stress, brain injury, and exogenous hormonal contraceptive and opioid use. Dr. Lenz’s research program is currently supported by the National Institutes of Health, The Department of Defense, and The National Science Foundation.
Presentations will be recorded for member access after the sessions.
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