Yogita Chudasama, Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Section on Behavioral Neuroscience / Rodent Behavioral Core

NIMH

John Edward Porter Neuroscience Research Center (Building 35A), Room 2D-820
35A Convent Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892

301-594-4186

yogita.chudasama@nih.gov

Research Topics

Dr. Chudasama has had a long standing interest in functional neuroanatomy, and specifically elucidating the brain mechanisms underlying the control of executive function, which are both central to human cognitive behavior and adversely affected in psychiatric disorders. Her laboratory focuses on the cognitive effects of manipulating particular brain circuits, and is at the forefront in state-of-the-art behavioral testing. While her laboratory pursues basic science questions, Dr. Chudasama’s work places a strong emphasis on translation to understanding human brain circuits, cognition, and dysfunction observed in mental disorders. Recently, work in her work has extended towards understanding the relationship between executive dysfunction and socioemotional dysregulation. Currently, her lab is actively investigating the network of forebrain and midbrain structures that not only steer complex executive behavior, but also regulates normal social development. To this end, Dr. Chudasama’s laboratory implements a range of methodologies including behavior, neuroanatomy and psychopharmacology, as well as viral and molecular genetics to provide us with a unique perspective on the detailed circuits that support executive behaviors that often go awry in human patients suffering from poor control over their decisions, memories, and actions.

Biography

Yogita Chudasama is Chief of the Section on Behavioral Neuroscience, and Director of the Rodent Behavioral Core. Dr. Chudasama received her B.Sc (Hons) in Applied Psychology in 1991 and her Ph.D in 1995, both from Cardiff University, Wales, UK. Her Ph.D. was under the mentorship of Dr. Janice Muir where she studied prefrontal and thalamic contributions to learning, memory and attention. Her first postdoctoral fellowship (1998-2002) was in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge UK, with Prof. Trevor Robbins investigating psychopharmacological mechanisms of prefrontal cognitive function. Her second postdoctoral fellowship (2003-2006) was in the Laboratory of Neuropsychology at NIMH with Dr. Elisabeth Murray examining the emotional and cognitive contributions of the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe. She was then recruited by McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and joined the faculty in the Psychology Department (2007-2015) where she established the Laboratory of Brain and Behavior. In Nov 2015, Dr. Chudasama joined the faculty in the Intramural Research Program (IRP) at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Selected Publications

  1. Messanvi KF, Berkun K, Perkins A, Chudasama Y. Parallel Pathways Provide Hippocampal Spatial Information to Prefrontal Cortex. J Neurosci. 2023;43(1):68-81.
  2. Ma J, du Hoffmann J, Kindel M, Beas BS, Chudasama Y, Penzo MA. Divergent projections of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus mediate the selection of passive and active defensive behaviors. Nat Neurosci. 2021;24(10):1429-1440.
  3. Messanvi F, Perkins A, du Hoffmann J, Chudasama Y. Fronto-temporal galanin modulates impulse control. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2020;237(2):291-303.
  4. Reveley C, Ye FQ, Mars RB, Matrov D, Chudasama Y, Leopold DA. Diffusion MRI anisotropy in the cerebral cortex is determined by unmyelinated tissue features. Nat Commun. 2022;13(1):6702.
  5. Tona R, Chen W, Nakano Y, Reyes LD, Petralia RS, Wang YX, Starost MF, Wafa TT, Morell RJ, Cravedi KD, du Hoffmann J, Miyoshi T, Munasinghe JP, Fitzgerald TS, Chudasama Y, Omori K, Pierpaoli C, Banfi B, Dong L, Belyantseva IA, Friedman TB. The phenotypic landscape of a Tbc1d24 mutant mouse includes convulsive seizures resembling human early infantile epileptic encephalopathy. Hum Mol Genet. 2019;28(9):1530-1547.

Related Scientific Focus Areas

This page was last updated on Monday, July 31, 2023