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Georgia Hodes 

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience 

Research Focus

My goal is to identify biological mechanisms that contribute to individual differences in vulnerability and resilience to stress and mood disorders such as anxiety and depression. In particular, I am interested in understanding how the sex of an individual contributes to stress susceptibility. I want to develop novel personalized treatments and bioassays for mental illness so these disorders can be medically diagnosed and treated effectively.

Selected Publications

  • Tsyglakova M, McDaniel D, Hodes, GE. Immune mechanisms of stress susceptibility and resilience: Lessons from animal models. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology. July 17: 100771. Doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2019.100771.  Epub ahead of print.
  • Hodes, GE. Sex similarities in the immune response to social stress. Brain Behavior and immunology. July; 79:10-11. Doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2019.03.002.
  • Hodes GE, Epperson CN. Sex differences in vulnerability and resilience to stress across the life span Biological Psychiatry. May 7. Doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.04.028. Epub ahead of print.
  • Pfau ML, Menard C, Cathomas F, Desland F, Kana V, Chan KL, Shimo Y, Leclair K, Flanigan ME, Aleyasin H, Walker D, Bouchard S, Mack M, Hodes GE, Merad MM. Russo SJ. Role of leukocyte-derived micro-RNA106b~25 in resilience to social defeat stress. Biological Psychiatry, March 29.. Doi: 10.1016/j. biopsych.2019.02.023. Epub ahead of print.
  • Kokras, N. Hodes, GE, Bangasser, DA, Dalla C. Sex differences in the HPA axis: an obstacle to antidepressant drug development? British Journal of Pharmacology, May 15. Doi:10.111/bph.14710. Epub ahead of print.
  • Rowson SA, Bekhbat M, Kelly SD, Binder EB, Hyer MM, Shaw G, Weinshenker D, Bent MA, Hodes G, Thrarp G, Weinshenker, D,  Qin Z, Neigh G. Chronic adolescent stress sex-specifically alter the hippocampal transcriptome in adulthood. Neurospychopharmacology, Jun; 44 (7): 1207-1215. Doi:10.1038/s41386-019-0321-z
  • Rainville JR, Hodes GE. Inflaming sex differences in mood disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology, Jan; 44 (1): 184-199. Doi:10.1038/s41386-018-0124-7.
  • Aleyasin H, Flanigan ME, Golden SA, Takahasi A, Menard C, Pfau ML, Multer J, Pina J, McCabe KA, Bhatti N, Hodes GE, Heshmati M, Neve RL, Nestler EJ, Heller EA, Russo SJ. Cell type specific role of DFosB in nucleus accumbens in modulating inter-male aggression. Journal of Neuroscience. June27; 38 (26):5913-5924.Doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0296-18.2018.
  • Hodes, GE. A primer on sex differences in the behavioral response to stress. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 23: 75-83. Doi: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2018. 03.012.
  • Lorsch ZS, Loh YHE, Purushothaman I, Walker DM, Cahill ME, Hodes GE, Pfau ML, Kronman H, Hamilton PJ, Issler O, Labonte B, Symonds AE, Zucker M, Zhang TY, Meaney MJ, Russo SJ, Shen L, Bagot RC, Nestler EJ. Estrogen receptor alpha drives pro-resilient transcription in mouse models of depression. Nature Communications. Mar 16; 9 (1):1116. Doi 10l1038/s41467-018-03567-4.
  • Zhang S. Zhang H, Ku SM, Juarez B, Morel C, Tzavaras N, Hodes GE, Brancato A, Russo SJ, Cao JL, Han MH. Sex differences in neuroadaptation of reward related circuits in response to subchronic variable stress, Neuroscience. Apr 15; 376:208-116.doi:10.1016/j.neuroscien.2018.02.021.
  • Wang J. Hodes GE, Zhang H, Zhang S, Zhao, W, Golden S, Bi W, Menard C, Kana V, Leboeuf M, Tiano S, Xie M, Bregman D, Pfau ML, Flanigan ME, Esteban-Fernandez A, Yemul S,  Ho L, Dixon R, Merad M, Han M, Russo SJ, Pasinetti GM. Targeting inflammation and synaptic plasticity promotes resilience against stress disorder and depression. Nature Communications.Feb2; 9 (1):477. Doi:10.1038/s41467-02794-5
  • Heshmati M, Aleyasin H, Menard C, Christoffel DJ, Flanigan ME, Pfau ML, Hodes GE, Lepack AE, Bicks LK, Takahashi A, Chandra R, Turecki G, Lobo MK, Maze I, Golden SA, Russo SJ. Cell type specific role for nucelus accumbens neuroligin-2 in depression and stress susceptibility.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2018 Jan 30;115(5):1111-1116. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1719014115. Epub 2018 Jan 16.
  • Rainville JR, Tsyglakov M, Hodes GE, Deciphering sex differences in the immune system and depression. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology. Jul; 50; 67-90 doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2017.12.004.