Ben Cheyette, MD, PhD, has been awarded a 2014 NARSAD Independent Investigator Grant by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. Created to facilitate innovative research opportunities, NARSAD Independent Investigator Grants provide support for investigators during the critical period between the initiation of research and the receipt of sustained funding.
Cheyette will investigate a proposed biochemical feedback circuit in the brain based on his hypothesis that disruption of this circuit in neurons of the prefrontal cortex plays a part in schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, and possibly other psychiatric conditions. He seeks to determine if this disruption causes changes in synapse development and function that lead to behavioral disruption, and will explore whether pharmacologic intervention that normalizes this circuit can reverse pathological changes.
