As an undergraduate I worked in the otolaryngology lab of Dr. Yates, focusing on potential treatments for sleep apnea.  From October 2007 to June 2010 I worked in a Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital.  In Dr. Maguire’s lab I will be working on a project analyzing mood disorders, stress, epilepsy and how they influence one another through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.  CRH neurons, located in the PVN of the hypothalamus, release corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), which acts in the anterior pituitary to release ACTH, triggering the release of corticosterone from the adrenal gland.  Metabolites of these hormones are converted to neuroactive steroids in the brain, which can have major influences on GABA receptors, the focus of the Maguire lab.  My current project will be to specifically look at the role the potassium-chloride cotransporter, KCC2, on GABAergic inhibition in CRH neurons and the impact on the HPA axis.  Using knockout models and pharmacologic treatments, we will look at CRH neuron activity, and how these cells are affected by the loss of KCC2.  We will also look at KCC2 regulation of the HPA-axis, and lastly analyze changes in KCC2 expression following seizure activity.