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featuring
Join us on Thursday, October 22, 2026
from 11am-12pm ET for a Live Webinar
Featuring Caroline J. Smith, PhD
This webinar remains free for current PNIRS members. A $10 registration fee now applies to non-members.
Title: Microglia and microbiota as organizers of social brain circuits following prenatal toxicant exposures
Prenatal exposure to compounding environmental stressors, such as air pollution and maternal stress, is a risk factor for numerous neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders with social impairments at their core. Interestingly, many of these disorders are characterized by comorbid gastrointestinal dysfunction, and toxicants can have profound impacts on the gut-brain axis. Despite this, very little is known about the cellular mechanisms by which changes in inflammation and gut microbiota can alter social brain circuits. In this talk, I will share our recent data demonstrating that gestational exposure to air pollution, only in combination with maternal psychosocial stress, leads to pervasive social behavior impairments in a mouse model. Furthermore, we find that these behavioral changes are accompanied by alterations to neuroimmune signaling and the composition of the gut microbiome. I will discuss our current evidence and future directions supporting the hypothesis that microglia and microbiota are key substrates onto which toxicant effects converge, but also essential targets for therapeutic intervention
About the Speakers
Dr. Smith received her Ph.D. from Boston College, working in the lab of Dr. Alexa Veenema, in 2017. She then completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Dr. Staci Bilbo at the Lurie Center for Autism at Harvard Medical School and, subsequently, at Duke University. Since 2023, she has been an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College. Research in the Smith Lab aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which social circuits (particularly oxytocin and vasopressin systems) are organized during development with a focus on neuroimmune and gut-brain interactions and how these are impacted by a variety of perinatal immune insults such as air pollutants, stress, drugs of abuse, and more. This work has been supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Presentations will be recorded for member access after the sessions.
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