Project Overview
This project investigates how innate resilience or sensitivity to stress influences cognitive ageing and the development of age-related cognitive impairments. Using a unique mouse model of stress-resilient and stress-sensitive individuals, we study the molecular, neurophysiological, and behavioral mechanisms linking chronic stress vulnerability to cognitive decline. The goal is to identify biological pathways and biomarkers that predict susceptibility to accelerated brain ageing and neurodegenerative disorders.
Research Focus
- Neuropsychiatry
- Aging Research
- Stress Biology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Translational Geroscience
Experimental Approaches
- Stress-resilient and stress-sensitive animal models
- Behavioral phenotyping
- Cognitive testing
- Inflammatory cytokine profiling
- HPA-axis assessment
- Metabolic phenotyping
- Lifespan analysis
Principal Investigator: Prof. Albert Pinhasov
Behavioral and Molecular Psychiatry Lab
Clinical Relevance
- Identification of biomarkers for early detection of stress-related cognitive decline
- Improved risk stratification for individuals vulnerable to accelerated brain ageing
- Discovery of molecular targets for prevention of age-associated cognitive impairment
- Development of personalized interventions based on individual stress resilience profiles
- Advancement of precision psychiatry approaches for ageing-related neuropsychiatric disorders
Recent publications:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40699122/
M Bairachnaya, O Agranyoni, M Antoch, I Michaelevski, A Pinhasov, Innate sensitivity to stress facilitates inflammation, alters metabolism and shortens lifespan in a mouse model of social hierarchy. Aging (Albany NY), 2019 Nov 9;11(21):9901-9911.