Erin Hisey, PhD

Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

My long-term research interests center on how early life experiences shape adult behavior and how trauma can reshape formerly adaptive behaviors into maladaptive ones. As a postdoctoral fellow with Kerry Ressler, I developed a model of juvenile chronic social defeat stress in mice in order to model the effects of physical trauma in childhood. My current research uses optogenetic, in vivo imaging and RNA manipulation techniques in this early life trauma model to examine how specific neural circuits can be altered by early life trauma to impact the encoding and recall of fear memories in adulthood. As childhood abuse occurs in nearly 25%, and up tp 50%, of the civilian and veteran population, respectively, I am highly motivated to model early life trauma and determine how neural circuits are reshaped by it. Using a combination of circuits- and molecular-level techniques, I hope to advance the knowledge of how early life trauma reshapes neural circuits to influence adult behavior with the ultimate goal of providing novel targets for the reduction of symptoms related to trauma-based disorders.

Publications

  • Published 10/6/2025

    Hall AG, Burek DJ, Hisey EE, Seabrook LT, Fritsch EL, Foilb AR, Beatty ZG, Ressler KJ, Kangas BD, Carlezon WA. Correspondence between sleep patterns and anhedonia in adult male mice exposed to early-life stress. Transl Psychiatry. 2025 Oct 06; 15(1):358. PMID: 41052981.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/24/2025

    Mayeaux MR, Newman EL, Ressler KJ, Hisey EE. Chronic Social Defeat Stress in Early Adolescent Male Mice. J Vis Exp. 2025 Jan 24; (215). PMID: 39927647.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/20/2024

    Hartmann J, Klengel C, Dillmann LJ, Hisey EE, Hafner K, Shukla R, Soliva Estruch M, Bajaj T, Ebert T, Mabbott KG, Rostin L, Philipsen A, Carlezon WA, Gisabella B, McCullumsmith RE, Vergis JM, Klengel T, Berretta S, Daskalakis NP, Pantazopoulos H, Gassen NC, Ressler KJ. SKA2 enhances stress-related glucocorticoid receptor signaling through FKBP4-FKBP5 interactions in neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Dec 24; 121(52):e2417728121. PMID: 39705315.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/31/2023

    Hisey EE, Fritsch EL, Newman EL, Ressler KJ, Kangas BD, Carlezon WA. Early life stress in male mice blunts responsiveness in a translationally-relevant reward task. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2023 Nov; 48(12):1752-1759. PMID: 37258714.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/19/2023

    Hisey E, Purkey A, Gao Y, Hossain K, Soderling SH, Ressler KJ. A Ventromedial Prefrontal-to-Lateral Entorhinal Cortex Pathway Modulates the Gain of Behavioral Responding During Threat. Biol Psychiatry. 2023 Aug 01; 94(3):239-248. PMID: 36925415.

    Read at: PubMed

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Websites

Education

  • Duke University, PhD
  • University of Chicago, AB

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