I am a neuroscientist working at the intersection of molecular neuroanatomy and behavior. My research interest is concerned with how experiences are instantiated in the brain's neurocircuitry to support maladaptive behavior relevant to human psychopathology.
The focus of my work is dedicated to understanding the neurobiological basis of substance use and abuse disorders including mechanisms that lead to the development of dependence, attachment and withdrawal states, craving, relapse, and cognitive impairment.
As an undergraduate student, I studied Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Following a short period in Japan where I trained in molecular neurobiology with Dr. Yamamoto at the University of Osaka Medical School, I began my graduate training at New York University (NYU) as a master's student with Dr. Chiye Aoki focusing on fear learning relevant for anxiety disorders. My work at NYU had a profound influence in my developing an interest in experience-dependent neuroplasticity.
For my doctoral work I was granted two prestigious fellowships: (1) a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions from the European Commission and (2) a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbukagakusho). With this support and the mentorship of Professors Arbuthnott and Aoki, I focused my research on the structural plasticity of neuronal populations that support acquired experiences. During this period, I was also hosted in the laboratory of Professor Yosi (Yosef) Yarom at the Hebrew University between 2012 - 2014 which resulted in studies on the morphological and physiological properties of Purkinje cells in rodents and humans.
HERMINA NEDELESCU
Subsequently, I was awarded a post-doctoral JSPS Fellowship and was hosted by Dr. Sugihara at Tokyo Medical and Dental University to conduct brain-wide examinations of long-range axonal trajectories in their entirety, in order to access neural circuits in detail.
In 2018, I transitioned to the Scripps Research Institute to pursue bridging neural circuit plasticity and behavior. Currently, I am a Staff Scientist in the Department of Neuroscience investigating activity-based interrogations of groups of neurons - neuronal ensembles and engram cells - within discrete circuits to link activation of neurocircuits by environmental and contextual stimuli with maladaptive behavior. Overall, my research goal is to establishes the neurobiological alterations that link the conditioned incentive value of substance-associated contexts and their role in exacerbating drug seeking, research work that is being extended to other types of maladaptive behavior, more generally, including systems that regulate fear-conditioning, anxiety disorders, traumatic avoidance learning, and possibly predatory behavior. I have a K01 grant from NIDA to study the control of opioid-motivated approach and avoidance behavior by neuronal ensembles and engrams.
A full list of my publications can be found here.