Department of Neurobiology
More

Emma Perez Costas


ecostasAssistant Professor


Primary Department Affiliation: Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology
Primary Research Area: Schizophrenia

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 205.996.9374
Fax: 205.996.9377

Recent Publications
 

Office Address:
Sparks Center

8th Floor (SC 865C)

1720 7th Avenue South

Birmingham, AL

35294-0017

Education:

  • B.Sc., University of Santiago de Compostela, Biology, 1996.
  • M.Sc., University of Santiago de Compostela, Cell Biology, 1998.
  • Ph.D., University of Santiago de Compostela, Cell Biology/Neurosciences, 2002.
  • Postdoctoral Training, University of Maryland Medical School, 2003-2006.

Academic Appointments with UAB:
  • Assistant Professor, primary appointment, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology
  • Assistant Professor, secondary appointment, Department of Psychology
  • Assistant Professor, secondary appointment, Department of Neurobiology
  • Assistant Professor, secondary appointment, Department of Cell Biology
  • Associate Faculty, Civitan International Research Center (CIRC)
  • Faculty, Undergraduate Neuroscience Honors Program

Research Interests
  • Mapping the pathogenesis of dopaminergic systems in neuropsychiatric disorders: A long running project in the lab is the study of dopamine synthesis anomalies in schizophrenia. Recently we have extended our study to other neuropsychiatric disorders (bipolar disorder and major depression). 
  • Characterization of animal models for the study of striatal pathologies. We are in the process of studying the neurochemical composition and neuronal distribution of the tree shrew (Tupaia glis) striatum with the aim to find a suitable animal model for comparison with human striatum development. The tree shrew striatum shares the basic patterns of the human striatum, with a truly separated caudate and putamen nuclei but little is been done to know the exact neurochemical and neuronal composition of this animal’s basal ganglia.
  •  Development of basal ganglia connectivity in animal models and in the human brain.
  •  Adaptation or development of new histological techniques.

People in the Lab
  • Matthew W. Rice, Graduate Student, Behavioral Neuroscience.  email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Ryan P. Lee, Undergraduate Student, Neuroscience and Science and Technology Honors Programs, UAB. email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Kristen L. Smith, Undergraduate Student, Neuroscience and Science and Technology Honors Programs, UAB. email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Funded Research:
  • 12/2010-11/2015 Principal Investigator (MPI), Neuropathology of Dopamine Systems in Schizophrenia, funded by National Institutes of Mental Health (RO1MH066123)

 

Previous Research

  • Postdoctoral Research: I did my postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Rosalinda C. Roberts at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (University of Maryland at Baltimore) where I became familiar with electron microscopy techniques and deepened my knowledge on the neuroanatomy of the human brain in health and disease.
  • Doctoral Thesis: I did my doctoral thesis work in the laboratories of Dr. Hector J. Caruncho and Dr. Maria Celina Rodicio (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain). My doctoral dissertation showed that reelin is present in an animal without developed cortical structures, pointing out that reelin is a protein well conserved in the vertebrate evolution. Furthermore, this study shows an interesting pattern of expression of reelin in adult animals that suggest a possible role of this protein in neuronal plasticity in brain structures like the hypothalamus or the olfactory bulb (for more information see Perez-Costas et al., 2002, Perez-Costas et al., 2004)

 

Professional Memberships:

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • Society for Neuroscience (SFN)
  • Faculty for Undergraduate in Neuroscience (Fun)
  • International Brain Research Organization  (IBRO)
  • Galician Association of Biologists (COBGA)

Honors & Awards:

1999-2002, FPU Fellowship, University of Santiago De Compostela (Spain), University of Santiago De Compostela (Spain), Predoctoral Fellowship

 

Other lab web pages: