Jessica Verpeut is an Assistant Professor of behavioral neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on the brain and behavior in rodent models during early-development, adolescence and into aging. Using machine learning, this neuroscience lab quantitatively analyses behavior and develops assays to understand how animals learn social dynamics. These techniques are applied to a wide variety of questions in the lab focusing on the cerebellum, addiction, and aging.
The cerebellum has highly conserved neural architecture and circuitry with distal connections to known motor, cognitive, and social regions. Pediatric injury of the cerebellum is highly associated with neural developmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Understanding how the cerebellum fine-tunes neural development is essential to providing better diagnostic criteria and outcomes for individuals with neural developmental disorders. In addition, the Verpeut lab studies the brain in aging and addiction. How the brain changes from early-development through aging is important for understanding periods of vulnerability for risk and addictive-related behavior.
Dr. Verpeut received her undergraduate degree in animal science and psychology from Pennsylvania State University and her doctoral degree in endocrinology and animal biosciences at Rutgers University. As a postdoctoral research fellow funded by the New Jersey Brain Injury Research Committee, Jessica mapped cerebello-cortical connections that contribute to flexible behavior.
Education
Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Princeton University 2015-2020
Ph.D. Endocrinology and Animal Biosciences, Rutgers University 2015
B.S. Psychology, Pennsylvania State University 2010
B.S. Animal Science, Pennsylvania State University 2010
My lab focuses on understanding the brain and behavior in cerebellar function, addiction, and aging. First, the lab aims to identify the sensitive developmental period that cerebellar activity is required by manipulating neural circuits in early postnatal life and studying resulting changes to behavior across the lifespan. Second, adolescence is a sensitive period whereby mental health disorders arise and individuals are more susceptible to addiction. In the lab, we combine viral tracing, neural activation, and molecular RNA techniques to understand genetic influences on behavior. Lastly, we study how the brain ages in male and female rodent models to understand when neural circuits become disrupted in both typical and atypical aging processes. We use machine learning throughout all projects to quantitatively analyze behavior and develops assays to understand neural circuit influence on behavior in adolescent and aging animals.
Research Group
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