Moriel Zelikowsky

Moriel is a behavioral psychologist and neuroscientist who studies how different forms of stress alter animals' responses to threatening stimuli.  She discovered an evolutionarily conserved role for a tachykinin neuropeptide, NkB, in the control of social isolation stress-induced increases in aggressiveness, learned and innate fear. This work reveals previously unknown major changes in brain chemistry that occur during weeks of social isolation, and identify a pharmacological inhibitor of these effects that may one day prove useful in the treatment of social isolation-induced stress in humans.  Moriel is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Utah Salt Lake City School of Medicine. She is a recipient of a L'Oreal for Women in Science Award. Learn more about her lab here.