Project Overview
This project investigates how prenatal stress interacts with inherited stress vulnerability to shape long-term behavioral and neurobiological outcomes in offspring. Using unique stress-resilient and stress-sensitive mouse strains, we identify placental, epigenetic, and neurodevelopmental mechanisms that determine susceptibility to depression-like behaviors and maladaptive stress responses. Our goal is to discover early biomarkers and therapeutic targets that enable the prediction and prevention of stress-induced developmental disorders.
Research Focus
- Developmental Neuropsychiatry
- Prenatal Programming
- Neuroimmunology
- Stress Biology
- Epigenetics
Experimental Approaches
- Maternal immune activation models
- Prenatal stress paradigms
- Cytokine profiling
- Placental glucocorticoid receptor analysis
- Behavioral phenotyping,
- Glutamatergic and dopaminergic signaling studies
Principal Investigator: Prof. Albert Pinhasov
Behavioral and Molecular Psychiatry Lab
Clinical Relevance
- Early identification of pregnancies at risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes
- Discovery of placental biomarkers for prenatal stress susceptibility and resilience
- Improved prediction of depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders later in life
- Development of preventive interventions targeting vulnerable mother–offspring populations
- Advancement of precision psychiatry through personalized risk assessment based on prenatal and genetic factors
Recent publications:
Mohamed Mari, Anastasia Bagaev, Debpali Sur, Beatriz G S Rocha, Dilorom Begmatova, Natalia Zemliana, Abdalla Bowirrat, Kenneth Blum, Panayotis K Thanos, Natalya M Kogan, Albert Pinhasov, Personality-based intergenerational effects of prenatal THC exposure in an inherited mouse model of social dominance and submissiveness, Scientific Reports, 2025 Aug 20;15(1):30624.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40835854/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37845494/
Becker M, Gorobets D, Shmerkin E, Weinstein-Fudim L, Pinhasov A, Ornoy A., Prenatal SAMe Treatment Changes via Epigenetic Mechanism/s USVs in Young Mice and Hippocampal Monoamines Turnover at Adulthood in a Mouse Model of Social Hierarchy and Depression, International Journal of Molecular Sciences.2023 Jun 27;24(13):10721.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37445911/
Becker M, Abaev K, Shmerkin E, Weinstein-Fudim L, Pinhasov A, Ornoy A. Prenatal SAMe Treatment Induces Changes in Brain Monoamines and in the Expression of Genes Related to Monoamine Metabolism in a Mouse Model of Social Hierarchy and Depression, Probably via an Epigenetic Mechanism. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2022 Oct 7;23(19):11898.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36233200/
Murlanova K, Begmatova D, Weber-Stadlbauer U, Meyer U, Pletnikov M, Pinhasov A., Double trouble: Prenatal immune activation in stress sensitive offspring, Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 2022 Jan 1;99:3-8.