Stujenske Lab Studying emotional control circuits

Publications

The central question that the lab has tackled is how brain circuits appropriately distinguish between danger and safety. Further, we want to understand what goes wrong in individuals who overgeneralize their fear, reacting defensively to safe situations, leading to distress and missing out on positive activities. This work builds upon the prior work of Dr. Stujenske. As a PhD student, he identified oscillatory brain states that were associated with the appropriate suppression of defensive behavior, and disturbance of this oscillatory pattern was associated with inappropriate overgeneralization of fear. As a postdoc, he expanded on this work, demonstrating that appropriate discrimination of fear relies upon the recruitment of a specific class of inhibitory cells in the basolateral amygdala by the medial prefrontal cortex.

Highlighted

Prelimbic cortex drives discrimination of non-aversion via amygdala somatostatin interneurons.
Prelimbic cortex drives discrimination of non-aversion via amygdala somatostatin interneurons.
Joseph M Stujenske, Pia-Kelsey O'Neill, Carolina Fernandes-Henriques, Itzick Nahmoud, Samantha R Goldburg, ..., Timothy J Spellman, C Daniel Salzman, Joshua A Gordon, Conor Liston, Ekaterina Likhtik
Neuron   ·   08 Apr 2022

All

2022

Prelimbic cortex drives discrimination of non-aversion via amygdala somatostatin interneurons.
Prelimbic cortex drives discrimination of non-aversion via amygdala somatostatin interneurons.
Joseph M Stujenske, Pia-Kelsey O'Neill, Carolina Fernandes-Henriques, Itzick Nahmoud, Samantha R Goldburg, ..., Timothy J Spellman, C Daniel Salzman, Joshua A Gordon, Conor Liston, Ekaterina Likhtik
Neuron   ·   08 Apr 2022

2017

Serotonin inputs to the dorsal BNST modulate anxiety in a 5-HT
Serotonin inputs to the dorsal BNST modulate anxiety in a 5-HT
A L Garcia-Garcia, S Canetta, J M Stujenske, N S Burghardt, M S Ansorge, A Dranovsky, E D Leonardo
Molecular psychiatry   ·   01 Aug 2017
Fear from the bottom up.
Fear from the bottom up.
Joseph M Stujenske, Ekaterina Likhtik
Nature neuroscience   ·   25 May 2017
Thalamic projections sustain prefrontal activity during working memory maintenance.
Thalamic projections sustain prefrontal activity during working memory maintenance.
Scott S Bolkan, Joseph M Stujenske, Sebastien Parnaudeau, Timothy J Spellman, Caroline Rauffenbart, Atheir I Abbas, Alexander Z Harris, Joshua A Gordon, Christoph Kellendonk
Nature neuroscience   ·   03 May 2017

2015

Modeling the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Light and Heat Propagation for In Vivo Optogenetics.
Modeling the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Light and Heat Propagation for In Vivo Optogenetics.
Joseph M Stujenske, Timothy Spellman, Joshua A Gordon
Cell reports   ·   09 Jul 2015
Neural Representations of Unconditioned Stimuli in Basolateral Amygdala Mediate Innate and Learned Responses.
Neural Representations of Unconditioned Stimuli in Basolateral Amygdala Mediate Innate and Learned Responses.
Felicity Gore, Edmund C Schwartz, Baylor C Brangers, Stanley Aladi, Joseph M Stujenske, Ekaterina Likhtik, Marco J Russo, Joshua A Gordon, C Daniel Salzman, Richard Axel
Cell   ·   02 Jul 2015

2014

Fear and safety engage competing patterns of theta-gamma coupling in the basolateral amygdala.
Fear and safety engage competing patterns of theta-gamma coupling in the basolateral amygdala.
Joseph M Stujenske, Ekaterina Likhtik, Mihir A Topiwala, Joshua A Gordon
Neuron   ·   20 Aug 2014

2013

Prefrontal entrainment of amygdala activity signals safety in learned fear and innate anxiety.
Prefrontal entrainment of amygdala activity signals safety in learned fear and innate anxiety.
Ekaterina Likhtik, Joseph M Stujenske, Mihir A Topiwala, Alexander Z Harris, Joshua A Gordon
Nature neuroscience   ·   17 Nov 2013

2011

The bugeye mutant zebrafish exhibits visual deficits that arise with the onset of an enlarged eye phenotype.
The bugeye mutant zebrafish exhibits visual deficits that arise with the onset of an enlarged eye phenotype.
Joseph M Stujenske, John E Dowling, Farida Emran
Investigative ophthalmology & visual science   ·   13 Jun 2011