Heather Bimonte-Nelson

The overarching research goal of the Bimonte-Nelson laboratory is to optimize the trajectory of brain and cognitive changes as aging ensues with a translational eye to women’s health, taking a systems and interdisciplinary approach to elucidate the factors driving menopause- and hormone- related impacts. The Bimonte-Nelson laboratory has identified key variables that influence normal aging, and showing that factors such as menopause etiology, endogenous hormone changes associated with ovarian follicular depletion and ovariectomy, and exogenous hormone exposures can alter cognition. Their research includes testing contraceptive and hormone therapy hormones approved for use in women to determine effects on the brain and cognition during aging, to identify potential parameters of efficacy, and to address novel alternatives. They are steadfast toward the goal of discovering pathways to inform healthy brain aging. They attempt to do so by determining key variants in neurocognitive changes with a lifetime of endogenous and exogenous hormone exposures, and by performing rodent studies with a keen eye toward clinical translation. Their interests also incorporate these goals with relevance to Alzheimer's disease-related variables. In addition, one of their long-term goals is to apply these research questions to humans.

Research Projects

• Hormone therapy effects on cognition and the brain as aging ensues, including interactions with menopause etiology
• How reproductive senescence influences age-related changes in learning and memory
• Dietary and experiential factors that alter age-related learning, memory, and neural changes, including interactions with sex and hormone milieu
• Alzheimer's disease cognitive and pathology profiles as associated with behavioral neuroendocrinology factors