Fereshteh S. Nugent
Ph.D.
Education
Ph.D., Neurophysiology, Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran, Iran, 2003Postdoctoral, Neuroscience, Brown University
Biography
Dr. Fereshteh Nugent received her Ph.D. in Neurophysiology from Tarbiat Modarres University in Tehran, Iran, in 2003. She became a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University from 2003 to 2008. In 2009, she joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology at Uniformed Services University and is now a tenured Professor at Pharmacology and Neuroscience Departments. Research in her laboratory explores effects of severe early life stress and mild traumatic brain injuries on synaptic transmission and plasticity of distinct reward and motivational circuits. To identify molecular, synaptic, neuromodulatory and circuit mechanisms contributing to motivated behavior as well as neuropsychiatric illnesses and vulnerability to drug addiction following stress and brain trauma, her lab uses a variety of neuroscience techniques that include slice electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry and behavioral techniques combined with viral-based tracing and labeling, optogenetic circuit mapping and chemogenetics.Nugent Lab
Postdoctoral Fellows: Dr. Ludovic Langlois, Dr. Sarah Simmons
Graduate Students: William Flerlage, Christopher Bouslog
Lab Alumni
Dr. Matthieu Dacher (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France), Dr. Jayaraj N. Kodangattil, Dr. Haifa Kassis, Dr. Michael Authement (NIAAA), Dr. Ryan Shepard (NINDS)
Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployements, Awards and Additional Publications
2019-2023 Nominated and appointed Regular Member/Reviewer for NMB NIH Study Section
Associate Editor for Frontiers in Synaptic Neuroscience and Frontiers in Neuropharmacology
Editorial Board Member for Communications Biology and Journal of Neuroscience Research
2015 USU Hébert School of Medicine Dean Impact Award for outstanding contributions in research, education and service
Selected as a mentor for the 2018 NIDA Summer Research Internship Program
2018 USU Hébert School of Medicine Dean Impact Award for outstanding contributions in research, education and service
2019 USU Hébert School of Medicine Dean Recognition for contributions to Neuroscience Module
2019 USU Hébert School of Medicine Dean Impact Award for outstanding contributions in research, education and service
2019 Recipient of the 2019 Henry C. Wu Award for Excellence in Basic Science at USU
Representative Bibliography
William J. Flerlage, Ludovic D. Langlois, Milan Rusnak, Sarah C. Simmons, Shawn Gouty, Regina C. Armstrong, Brian M. Cox, Aviva J. Symes, Mumeko C. Tsuda, and Fereshteh S. Nugent. Involvement of Lateral Habenula Dysfunction in Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury–Induced Motivational Deficits. Journal of Neurotrauma..125-140.(2023)
Shepard R.D., Langlois, L.D., Browne C.A., Berenji A., Lucki L., and Nugent F.S., Ketamine Reverses Lateral Habenula Neuronal Dysfunction and Behavioral Immobility in the Forced Swim Test Following Maternal Deprivation in Late Adolescent Rats. Front. Synaptic Neurosci., 10:39 (2018)
Authement M.E., Langlois L. D., Shepard R.D., Browne C.A., Lucki L., Kassis H., and Nugent F.S., A role for corticotrophin releasing factor signaling in the lateral habenula and its modulation by early life stress, Science Signaling, 11:520 (2018)
Langlois, L.D. and Nugent F.S. Opiates and plasticity in ventral tegmental area, Invited Review, ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 20;8(9):1830-1838 (2017)
Authement M.E., Kodangattil J.N.,Gouty,S., Rusnak, M., Symes A.J., Cox B.M., and Nugent F.S., Histone deacetylase inhibition rescues maternal deprivation-induced GABAergic metaplasticity through restoration of AKAP signaling, Neuron, 86: 1240–1252 (2015)
Dacher, M. A., Gouty, S., Dash, S., Cox, B.M., and Nugent, F.S., A-kinase anchoring protein-calcineurin signaling in long-term depression of GABAergic synapses, Journal of Neuroscience, 33:2650-60 (2013) Nugent, F.S., Penick, E.C., Kauer, J.A., Opiates block long-term potentiation of GABAergic synapses. Nature, 466: 1086-1095 (2007)