Dr. Marloes Henckens

Personen Marloes Henckens

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dr. Marloes Henckens

Over Marloes Henckens

Susceptibility to stress-related psychopathology lees meer

Over Marloes Henckens

My research aims to understand how stress exposure can lastingly affect brain function. Using animal models that allow for controlled study of the mechanistic underpinnings of stress-related psychopathology, I intend to elucidate how stress affects the brain. Since the brain is organized as set of functional neural networks, I focus on the neural circuit level (e.g., by whole-brain analyses of neuronal activation by means of rodent MRI or cellular neuronal activity markers, viral tracing, and chemogenetics) and combine this with molecular studies to provide detailed mechanistic insight in the causes of altered neuronal circuit structure and function (investigating epigenetic mechanisms and local gene expression). I am particularly interested in inter-individual differences in the neural correlates of stress responsivity and subsequent coping, as I think that the natural resiliency against developing stress-related mental disorders contains unique information for new treatment options. Therefore, I combine these brain analysis methods with a wide variety of behavioural assays, to determine which individuals are relatively stress resilient and which succumb to mental disease.