People

Gillian Hamilton

Damaging effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the medial prefrontal cortex.

I am a second year behavioral neuroscience graduate student working with Dr. Anna Klintsova. My current research explores the damaging effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on a still developing brain. This is done using a rat model of fetal alcohol syndrome. In particular I focus on the medial prefrontal cortex, as this is one of the last brain regions to develop. Brain plasticity is analyzed using the Golgi technique wherein both dendritic length and dendritic spines are analyzed.