Neuroscience Research

There and Back Again

I started my academic journey at Kent State University where I received a B.A. in Psychology in 2011. As a post-baccalaureate research assistant in the laboratory of Dr. Aaron Jasnow, I studied the effects on social defeat stress on subsequent Pavlovian fear learning.

Later, I joined the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Cooper at the University of Tennessee as a doctoral student. In 2018, I completed my Ph.D. in Biological Psychology, and my dissertation research focused on the neurochemistry and neural circuitry of stress resilience.

Although I enjoyed studying stress and resilience, I wanted to return to the field of memory. Thus, I joined the lab of Dr. Fred Helmstetter at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee after completing my doctoral work. Here, I studied the neurobiology of age-related memory deficits until deciding to pursue my passion for writing and public engagement full time.

Publications

  • Cooper, M. A., Clinard, C. T., Dulka, B. N., Grizzell, J. A., Loewen, A. L., Campbell, A. V., & Adler, S. G. (2021). Gonadal steroid hormone receptors in the medial amygdala contribute to experience-dependent changes in stress vulnerability, Psychoneuroendocrinology, 129…..View Online
  • Dulka, B. N., Trask, S., & Helmstetter, F. J., (2021). Age-Related Memory Impairment and Sex-Specific Alterations in Phosphorylation of the Rpt6 Proteasome Subunit and Polyubiquitination in the Basolateral Amygdala and Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Frontiers in in Aging Neuroscience, 13, 163…..View Online
  • Trask, S. Dulka, B. N., & Helmstetter, F. J. (2020). Age-Related Memory Impairment is Associated with Increased zif268 Protein Accumulation and Decreased Rpt6 Phosphorylation. International Journal of Molecular Processes, 21(15), 5352…..View Online
  • Grizzell, J. A., Clarity, T. T., Graham, N. B., Dulka, B. N., & Cooper, M. A. (2020). Activity of a vmPFC-DRN pathway corresponds with resistance to acute social defeat stress. Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 14, 50…..View Online
  • Dulka, B. N., Pullins, S. E., Cullen, P. K., Moyer, J. R., and Helmstetter, F. J. (2020). Age-Related Memory Deficits are Associated with Changes in Protein Degradation in Brain Regions Critical for Trace Fear Conditioning. Neurobiology of Aging, 91, 160-166…..View Online
  • Dulka, B. N., Bagatelas, E. D., Bress, K. S., Grizzell, J. A., Cannon, M. K., Whitten, C. J., and Cooper, M. A. (2020). Chemogenetic activation of an infralimbic cortex to basolateral amygdala projection promotes resistance to acute social defeat. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-13…..View Online
  • Dulka, B. N., Bress, K. S., Grizzell, J. A., and Cooper, M. A. (2018). Social Dominance Modulates Stress-Induced Neural Activity in Medial Prefrontal Cortex Projections to the Basolateral Amygdala. Neuroscience, 388, 274-283…..View Online
  • Dulka, B. N., Koul-Tiwari, R., Grizzell, J. A., Harvey, M. L., Datta, S., and Cooper, M. A. (2018). Dominance Relationships in Syrian Hamsters Modulate Neuroendocrine and Behavioral Responses to Social Stress. Stress, 21(6), 569-574…..View Online
  • Dulka, B. N., Bourdon, A. K., Clinard, C. T., Muvvala, M. B.K., Campagna, S.R., and Cooper, M. A. (2017). Metabolomics reveals distinct neurochemical profiles associated with stress resilience. Neurobiology of Stress, 7, 103-112…..View Online
  • Cooper, M. A., Seddighi, S., Barnes, A. K., Grizzell, J. A., Dulka, B. N., and Clinard, C. T. (2017). Dominance status alters restraint-induced neural activity in brain regions controlling stress vulnerability. Physiology & Behavior, 179, 152-161…..View Online
  • Dulka, B. N., Ford, E. C., Lee, M. A., Donnell, N. J., Goode, T. D., Prosser, R. & Cooper, M. A. (2016). Proteolytic cleavage of proBDNF into mature BDNF in the basolateral amygdala is necessary for defeat-induced social avoidance. Learning & Memory, 23(4), 150-160…..View Online
  • Dulka, B. N., Lynch III, J., Mulvany, J., Latsko, M., & Jasnow, A. M. (2015). Phenotypic responses to social defeat are associated with differences in cued and contextual fear discrimination. Behavioural Processes, 118, 115-122…..View Online
  • Cullen, P. K., Dulka, B. N., Ortiz, S., Riccio, D. C. & Jasnow, A. M. (2014). GABA-mediated presynaptic inhibition is required for precision of long-term memory. Learning & Memory, 21, 180–184…..View Online

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