Her laboratory focuses on the dysfunction of cortico-limbic-striatal circuits that may cause increased impulsivity and alterations in reward-related learning that have relevance to drug addition and such health concerns as depression, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Her current studies are examining how DA/PKA-regulated intracellular signaling molecules and alterations in associated neurotrophin molecules within the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and accumbens contribute to associated aspects of incentive motivation, learning and memory function.

Media-Newswire.com) - New Haven, Conn. — Jane R. Taylor, who has recently been designated as the Charles B.G. Murphy Associate Professor of Psychiatry, specializes in brain research related to drug addiction and various psychiatric disorders.

Her laboratory focuses on the dysfunction of cortico-limbic-striatal circuits that may cause increased impulsivity and alterations in reward-related learning that have relevance to drug addition and such health concerns as depression, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Her current studies are examining how DA/PKA-regulated intracellular signaling molecules and alterations in associated neurotrophin molecules within the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and accumbens contribute to associated aspects of incentive motivation, learning and memory function.

In studies with monkeys, Taylor and her colleagues have found long-lasting deficits in inhibitory control after repeated cocaine exposure and alterations in reward-related learning. They have recently developed a novel corticosterone model of depression and are examining sex differences in attention, motivation and impulse control in rodents.

Taylor is affiliated with the Yale/National Institute on Drug Abuse Neuroproteomics Center, the Interdisciplinary Research Consortium on Stress, Self-control and Addiction, and the Yale Specialized Center of Research on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women's Health. She is currently investigating stress and stress mechanisms of vulnerability to addiction in women.

A graduate of the University of Sussex in England, Taylor earned her Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge. She did postdoctoral work at Yale before she was named an associate research scientist in the Department of Psychiatry's Neurobehavior Laboratory in 1992. She joined the faculty as an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry in 1999, received tenure in 2007, and was promoted to a full professor in 2008. She is a member of the Interdepartmental Program on Neuroscience and has an appointment in the psychology department.

Taylor has received fellowships and grants from the Science and Engineering Research Council, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health and others. Her honors include the Donaghue Foundation's Independent Investigator Award and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Independent Investigator Award. She was named a research fellow of Clare Hall College in Cambridge, England, in 2007.

Taylor serves on the editorial boards of numerous scholarly journals and is the reviewing editor of the Journal of Neuroscience. She is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society of Biological Psychiatry, among other professional affiliations.