Awarded in 2023
Home Department: Neurosciences
Faculty Advisors: Scott Owen (Neurosurgery), Scott Linderman (Statistics), and Laura Prolo (Neurosurgery)

Research Title: Elucidating Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of OCD in the Human Brain

Research Description: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a prevalent and debilitating psychiatric disorder that affects 1-2% of the population. Alterations in neural activity in several brain regions have been tied to OCD symptoms, but the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms in the human brain are unresolved. This level of understanding is necessary to develop targeted pharmaceutical treatments, as well as to refine existing interventions. In collaboration with Dr. Scott Owen and Dr. Scott Linderman, Rennie proposes to combine multidimensional computational methods with cutting-edge experimental interventions in living, neurosurgically-resected human brain tissue to unravel cellular and molecular mechanisms of OCD in the human brain.