M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs were completed at University Laval (Qubec City, 1997) and University de Montreal (Montreal, 2003). Both projects were investigating the potential role of central neuropeptides (opioids and tachykinins) and their G protein-coupled receptors on cardiovascular function in normotensive and hypertensive rats. The projects involved stereotaxic surgery and drug microinjection into discrete brain regions. After my Ph.D. training (2006), I moved to the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City to learn neuroanatomy at Dr. Virginia Pickel's laboratory, in the Division of Neurobiology. More precisely, I learned immunocytochemistry, electron microscopy and confocal microscopy. My postdoctoral project combined neurophysiology and neuroanatomy to investigate G protein-coupled receptor's plasticity following dopamine activation. I got promoted Instructor in 2006, and stayed in the same laboratory until 2008. In 2009, I joined the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center as the head of the electron microscopy facility, as well as the Director of the Maryland Brain Collection.

Multiple circuits in the central nervous system relay information on complex behaviors such as stress and reward. These projection neurons are connecting several nucleus and areas of the basal ganglia and the limbic system. Regions of the ventral tegmental area, striatum, prefrontal cortex and amygdala represent target areas that are highly involved in behavioral function. Chemical imbalances of these pathways have been associated with psychiatric disorders, namely schizophrenia and stress-related disorders as anxiety.

The tachykinin family of neuropeptides and their G protein-coupled receptors are modulators of these brain projections. Their subcellular distributions in phenotypically characterized neurons, however, remain poorly understood. The main goals of my studies are 1) to determine the ultrastructural locations of tachykinin receptors NK-1 and NK-3 in regions of the mesocorticolimbic circuitry and, 2) their trafficking following stress (acoustic startle and restrain) or dopamine activation. The neuroanatomy of tachykinin receptors is investigated using immunocytochemistry and tract-tracers microinjected into several brain areas. These methods enable dual immunolabeling that identify the receptors on selected projection neurons (dopaminergic, glutamatergic) or local neurons (GABAergic interneurons). In addition, high resolution electron microscopy provides critical answers related to the receptor function by giving evidences of the receptorâ?Ts location in pre- or post-synaptic profiles, in the cytoplasm or on the plasma membrane in neurotransmitter-characterized neurons. Pharmacological (drug administration), physiological (temperature) and behavioral tools (plus-maze, prepulse inhibition to acoustic startle) also are assessed to validate schizophrenia- or stress-like paradigms. Results will be compared to control and schizophrenics acquired from the Maryland Brain Collection.