Maria L.A. Medalla, PhD
Associate Professor, Anatomy & Neurobiology
Biography
Dr. Medalla’s work combines cellular in vitro electrophysiological methods with multi-scale anatomic techniques to understand the biophysical and synaptic properties of neurons within prefrontal cortical (PFC) networks in non-human primate and rodent animal models. Her expertise includes patch-clamp recording, pathway tract-tracing, multiple immunohistochemical labeling techniques for light and electron microscopy (EM), 3D serial EM, and confocal microscopy. The major goal of her work is to understand how distinct limbic, sensory and motor networks interact and are controlled by the PFC – the central executive of the brain. Her current focus is on the medial prefrontal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in rhesus monkeys, an area important for attention, emotions and context-to-action transformations, and is selectively disrupted in many affective disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders.
Other Positions
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Education
- Boston University, PhD
- University Philippines, BS
Publications
- Published on 11/22/2023
DeVries SA, Conner B, Dimovasili C, Moore TL, Medalla M, Mortazavi F, Rosene DL. Immune proteins C1q and CD47 may contribute to aberrant microglia-mediated synapse loss in the aging monkey brain that is associated with cognitive impairment. Geroscience. 2024 Apr; 46(2):2503-2519. PMID: 37989825.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/15/2023
Medalla M, Zikopoulos B. Laminar Excitatory Inputs to the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: Implications for Periadolescent Synaptic Plasticity and Circuit Pathology. Biol Psychiatry. 2023 Aug 15; 94(4):280-282. PMID: 37495330.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/14/2022
Medalla M, Chang W, Ibañez S, Guillamon-Vivancos T, Nittmann M, Kapitonava A, Busch SE, Moore TL, Rosene DL, Luebke JI. Layer-specific pyramidal neuron properties underlie diverse anterior cingulate cortical motor and limbic networks. Cereb Cortex. 2022 05 14; 32(10):2170-2196. PMID: 34613380.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/11/2022
Tsolias A, Medalla M. Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor Localization on Distinct Excitatory and Inhibitory Neurons Within the ACC and LPFC of the Rhesus Monkey. Front Neural Circuits. 2021; 15:795325. PMID: 35087381.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 10/9/2021
Bottenfield KR, Bowley BGE, Pessina MA, Medalla M, Rosene DL, Moore TL. Sex differences in recovery of motor function in a rhesus monkey model of cortical injury. Biol Sex Differ. 2021 10 09; 12(1):54. PMID: 34627376.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/16/2021
Chang W, Weaver CM, Medalla M, Moore TL, Luebke JI. Age-related alterations to working memory and to pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex of rhesus monkeys begin in early middle-age and are partially ameliorated by dietary curcumin. Neurobiol Aging. 2022 01; 109:113-124. PMID: 34715442.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/15/2021
Delpech JC, Pathak D, Varghese M, Kalavai SV, Hays EC, Hof PR, Johnson WE, Ikezu S, Medalla M, Luebke JI, Ikezu T. Wolframin-1-expressing neurons in the entorhinal cortex propagate tau to CA1 neurons and impair hippocampal memory in mice. Sci Transl Med. 2021 09 15; 13(611):eabe8455. PMID: 34524859.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/2/2021
Ash PEA, Lei S, Shattuck J, Boudeau S, Carlomagno Y, Medalla M, Mashimo BL, Socorro G, Al-Mohanna LFA, Jiang L, Öztürk MM, Knobel M, Ivanov P, Petrucelli L, Wegmann S, Kanaan NM, Wolozin B. TIA1 potentiates tau phase separation and promotes generation of toxic oligomeric tau. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 03 02; 118(9). PMID: 33619090.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/29/2020
Go V, Sarikaya D, Zhou Y, Bowley BGE, Pessina MA, Rosene DL, Zhang ZG, Chopp M, Finklestein SP, Medalla M, Buller B, Moore TL. Extracellular vesicles derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells enhance myelin maintenance after cortical injury in aged rhesus monkeys. Exp Neurol. 2021 03; 337:113540. PMID: 33264634.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/13/2020
Calderazzo SM, Busch SE, Moore TL, Rosene DL, Medalla M. Distribution and overlap of entorhinal, premotor, and amygdalar connections in the monkey anterior cingulate cortex. J Comp Neurol. 2021 03; 529(4):885-904. PMID: 32677044.
Read at: PubMed
View 24 more publications: View full profile at BUMC