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Transforming the understanding
and treatment of mental illnesses.

Celebrating 75 Years! Learn More >>

Profile photo of Hugo Tejada, PhD

Hugo Tejeda, Ph.D.

Stadtman Investigator

Chief
Unit on Neuromodulation and Synaptic Integration

Research Topics

Research in Dr. Tejeda’s laboratory is aimed at elucidating how the brain utilizes neuromodulation in motivational and emotional neural circuits to process information and orchestrate behavior. Another major focus of the laboratory is to identify plastic changes in neuromodulation and synaptic integration in limbic circuits of animal models of psychiatric disorders to elucidate novel therapeutic targets and increase our understanding of conventional therapies. The laboratory employs an inter-disciplinary approach including electrophysiological, in-vivo imaging, optogenetic, and viral and transgenic techniques to dissect the function of neuromodulators, such as opioid receptors, in regulating synaptic integration in single cells, microcircuits, and distributed limbic networks to control motivated behavior.

Biography

Dr. Tejeda completed his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and at the National Institute on Drug Abuse under the mentorship of Drs. Patricio O’Donnell and Toni Shippenberg. His thesis work elucidated the role of neuromodulatory systems, including opioid receptors, in modulating synaptic integration in prefrontal cortical and limbic circuits. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Antonello Bonci at the National Institute Drug Abuse where he elucidated the mechanisms by which monoamine and opioid receptors, as well as stress modulate information processing in the nucleus accumbens. Dr. Tejeda joined the National Institute of Mental Health in 2018 as a Stadtman principal investigator. His research focuses on the role of neuromodulation in processing information in limbic neural circuits under physiological conditions and in psychiatric disorders.

Selected Publications

Pignatelli M, Tejeda HA, Barker DJ, Bontempi L, Wu J, Lopez A, Palma Ribeiro S, Lucantonio F, Parise EM, Torres-Berrio A, Alvarez-Bagnarol Y, Marino RAM, Cai ZL, Xue M, Morales M, Tamminga CA, Nestler EJ, Bonci A (2021). Cooperative synaptic and intrinsic plasticity in a disynaptic limbic circuit drive stress-induced anhedonia and passive coping in mice. Mol Psychiatry 26, 1860-1879. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-020-0686-8. [Pubmed Link ]

Building 35A, Room 2D-913, MSC 3770
BETHESDA, MD 20892

Phone: +1 301 451 2379

hugo.tejeda@nih.gov