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Amelia J. Eisch, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Psychiatry  University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard Dallas, TX   75390 Amelia.Eisch@UTsouthwestern.edu Office: (214) 648-5549 Fax: (214) 645-9549

I joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at UT Soutwestern Medical Center in 2000 after receiving my education at Yale University (undergraduate and postdoctoral work) and the University of California at Irvine (doctoral work).  If you want to know more about where I've been and what I've done, please look at my publication website or download my  Biographical Sketch (requires Adobe PDF).  If you want to know more about what my laboratory does now, read on, or visit the Eisch Laboratory Research website and Images and Movies website.  Please be sure to visit the Eisch Group Members page to see the smiling faces of the folks I am lucky enough to work with everyday.

I am interested in how mediators of neuroplasticity in a developmental context play a role in mediating neuroplasticity in the adult brain.  Inability of the brain to "adapt" may contribute to - or exacerbate - myriad psychiatric and neurological disorders, such as addiction, depression, or Alzheimer's Disease.  Two mediators that we focus on are adult neurogenesis and growth factors. 

My laboratory's primary focus is on the neuroplasticity that may underlie or accompany psychiatric disorders.  For example, long-term exposure to drugs of abuse, such as morphine, heroin, cocaine, and ethanol, can result in cognitive deficits.  We have previously shown that new neurons are inhibited by chronic exposure to opiates (Eisch et al., 2000).  Does the inhibition of adult neurogenesis contribute to the cognitive deficits seen after chronic drugs exposure?  This is one of the many questions we are addressing in our research.  We are currently exploring the mechanism underlying the opiate-induced inhibition in adult neurogenesis using several different approaches, including transgenic manipulation of newly-born cells.  Another example of our interest in adult neurogenesis and psychiatry is our exploration of the birth of new neurons in a mouse model of Alzheimer's Disease.  A final interest in the laboratory is the role that growth factors may play in development of a depressive-like phenotype.  For more information on these projects, please contact me or visit the Eisch Laboratory Research website and Images and Movies website.
 
 

If you expected a website on organometallic synthesis, I think you are looking for the "original" Eisch Laboratory.  Please visit the website of my father, John J. Eisch, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Binghamton University. 
 

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