Kinney

Faculty

Jefferson W. Kinney, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Program:

Experimental

Lab:

Behavioral Neuroscience Lab http://faculty.unlv.edu/jkinney

Email:

jefferson.kinney@unlv.edu

Phone:

(702) 895-4766

Accepting Gratuate Students 2008-2009: YES

Research Interests

Jeff Kinney's research area is behavioral neuroscience with an emphasis in two general areas; the neurobiology of learning & memory and the biological basis of several neurological/psychological disorders. Research projects in Dr. Kinney's laboratory focus on the cellular, molecular, and genetic mechanisms involved in various types of associative/spatial learning with particular emphasis on glutamate, GABA, and a few neuropeptides. Additional research projects focus on animal models of schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and mood disorders. The investigation of these disorders incorporates transgenic models and identifying potential therapeutic targets. The laboratory utilizes psychopharmacological, behavioral genetic, and molecular biology techniques to address experimental questions. Dr. Kinney is open to working with graduate students on other related topics in behavioral neuroscience.

Dr. Kinney earned his Ph.D. in 2000 from Colorado State University. He then completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health, followed by being awarded the Helen Dorris fellowship in schizophrenia research in the Department of Neuropharmacology at The Scripps Research Institute.

Selected Publications

Barr, A. M., Kinney, J. W., Hill, M. N., Lu X., Biros, S., Rebeck, J. Jr., & Bartfai, T. (2006). A novel, systemically active, selective galanin receptor type-3 ligand exhibits antidepressant-like activity in preclinical tests. Neuroscience Letters, 405, 111-115.

Kinney, J. W., Davis, C. N., Tabarean, I., Conti, B., Bartfai, T., & Behrens, M. M. (2006) A specific role for NR2A-containing NMDA receptors in the maintenance of parvalbumin and GAD67 immunoreactivity in cultured interneurons. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 1604-1615.

Lu, X., Barr, A. M., Kinney, J. W., Sanna, P. Conti, B., Behrens, M. M., & Bartfai, T. (2005) A role for galanin in antidepressant actions with a focus on the dorsal raphe nucleus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102, 874-879.

Wrenn,C. C., Kinney, J. W., Marriott, L. K., Holmes, A., Harris, A. P., Saavedra, M. C., Starosta^,G., Innerfield C. E., Jacoby, A. S., Shine, J., Iismaa^,T. P., & Wenk, G. L., and Crawley, J. N. (2004). Learning and memory performance in mice lacking the GAL-R1 subtype of galanin receptor. European Journal of Neuroscience, 19, 1-13.

Kinney, J. W., Starosta, G., & Crawley, J. N. (2003). Central galanin administration blocks consolidation of spatial learning. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 80, 42-54.

Holmes, A., Kinney, J. W., Wrenn, C. C., Li, Q., Yang, R. J., Ma, L., Vishwanath, J., Saavedra, M., Innerfield, C. E., Jacoby, A. S., Shine, J., Iismaa, T. P., & Crawley, J. N. (2003). Galanin GAL-R1 receptor null mutant mice display increased anxiety-like behavior specific to the elevated plus-maze. Neuropsychopharmacology, 28, 1031-1044.

Wrenn C. C., Marriott L. K., Kinney, J. W., Holmes, A., Wenk, G. L. & Crawley, J. N. (2002) Galanin peptide levels in hippocampus and cortex of galanin-overexpressing transgenic mice evaluated for cognitive performance. Neuropeptides, 36, 413-426.

Kinney, J. W., Starosta, G., Holmes, A., Wrenn, C. C., and Crawley, J. N. (2002) Deficits in trace cued fear conditioning in galanin-administered rats and galanin-overexpressing transgenic mice. Learning & Memory, 9, 178-190.