Skip to main content

Laura M. Rowland, PhD

Academic Title:

Adjunct Associate Professor

Primary Appointment:

Psychiatry

Additional Title:

Associate Professor

Location:

MPRC, Neuroimaging Research Program, Tawes Bld

Phone (Primary):

(410) 402-6803

Education and Training

Ph.D., Experimental Psychology (Behavioral Neuroscience), University of New Mexico

Biosketch

Dr. Rowland is an Associate Professor in the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC), Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. She is the Director of the Chemical Imaging Core, housed within the Neuroimaging Research Program at the MPRC and the co-director of the MPRC post-doctoral training program.  Supported by NIMH and NARSAD, her research focuses on proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies of glutamatergic and GABAergic function and bioenergetic alterations in schizophrenia and related disorders. Her research program integrates these in vivo neurochemistry measures with functional paradigms, multimodal neuroimaging, and translational behavioral neuroscience to better understand perceptual and learning mechanisms, aging/illness course, and novel treatments in schizophrenia and related disorders. In addition to research and training, Dr. Rowland currently serves as co-director for the Young Investigator Program for the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research, Associate Editor for Schizophrenia Bulletin, Scientific Council member of Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, and a standing member of an NIH study section.

Research/Clinical Keywords

Schizophrenia, Neuroimaging, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), Glutamate, GABA, memory

Highlighted Publications

  1. LM Rowland, BW Krause, SA Wijtenburg, RP McMahon, J Chiappelli, KL Nugent, SJ Nisonger, SA Korenic, P Kochunov, LE Hong, Medial Frontal GABA is Lower in Older Schizophrenia: A MEGA-PRESS with Macromolecule Suppression Study. Mol Psychiatry. 2015 Mar 31. doi: 10.1038/mp.2015.34. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 25824298
  2. LM Rowland, Ann Summerfelt, Andrea Wijtenburg,  Xiaoming Du,  Joshua Chiappelli,  Nithin Krishna, Jef West, Florian Muellerklein, Peter Kochunov,  L. Elliot Hong. Frontal Glutamate and GABA and their Relations to Mismatch Negativity and Digit Sequencing Task Performance in Schizophrenia. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016 Feb;73(2):166-74. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.2680. PMID: 26720179
  3. SA  Wijtenburg, S Wright, SA, Korenic, F Gaston, N Ndubuizu, J Chiappelli, R. McMahon, H. Chen, A. Savransky, M. Du, D. Wang, P. kochunov, LE Hong, LM Rowland. Altered Glutamate and Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Levels in Schizophrenia: A 1H-MRS and pCASL study. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2017 Jan;42(2):562-571. doi: 10.1038/npp.2016.172.PMID:  27562377
  4. LM Rowland, S Pradhan, S Korenic , SA Wijtenburg, LE Hong, RA Edden, PB Barker. Elevated Brain Lactate in Schizophrenia: A 7 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study, Transl Psychiatry. 2016 Nov 29;6(11):e967. doi: 10.1038/tp.2016.239.PMID: 27898072