Tallie Z. Baram is the D. Shepard Professor of Neurological Sciences and Distinguished Bren Professor in Pediatrics, Anatomy/Neurobiology and Neurology at UC-Irvine.
Baram, a child neurologist and developmental neuroscientist, has focused her efforts on the influence of early-life experiences on brain maturation and the implications of these enduring changes for neuropsychiatric diseases. She has been studying this broad topic in two contexts: a) How early-life experiences including adversity/stress (ELA) influence resilience and vulnerability to cognitive and emotional disorders; and b) how early-life seizures, especially those associated with fever, can convert a normal hippocampal circuit into an epileptic one.
Baram’s group has focused specifically on the consequences of early-life adversity (ELA) at molecular, cellular, circuit and behavioral levels, and on probing the underlying mechanisms. Using cross-species and transdisciplinary science within the UCI Conte Center, they have uncovered novel aspects of ELA in humans and experimental animals and have identified new ELA-sensitive cell-type specific brain projections. For example, the group identified enduring deficits in learning and memory in adults with a history of ELA and discovered epigenomic reprogramming of hippocampal brain cells, and anatomical and electrophysiological underpinnings of these deficits.
Baram’s work has been widely cited (~31,000 times; h = 96) and internationally recognized leading to NIH and professional societies research awards, and hundreds of national and international invited talks. Baram strives to contribute to the scientific community, e.g., by chairing NIH study sections and involvement in Societies and Editorial and Advisory Boards. She has a passion and commitment to mentoring, directing a T32 training program and mentoring science and physician-science students. Her former trainees, from diverse ethnicities, countries and backgrounds, are now contributing independently to our understanding of the brain in health and disease.
Key Research Areas:
Stress-memory interactions, sex-differerces, early-life stress, brain circuit maturation, CRH, reward, anhedonia, PTSD
