Media
A new class of drug that could prevent depression and PTSD at TED2017 and featured talk on TED.com
Could a Drug Prevent PTSD and Depression? featured talk on TED.com
The Social Outcomes Initiative at BrainMind MIT 2019
Deadly Mistake on The Story Collider Podcast
Press
A Scientist explores: What if we could inoculate people against depression and trauma? on TED Ideas
Meet the 34-year-old neuroscientist developing a drug to prevent depression and PTSD in The Washington Post
Preventing Mental Illness With a Stress Vaccine in the Atlantic
Could treatments for Alzheimer's disease and concussions be hanging out unused in your medicine cabinet? in Business Insider
Could a stress vaccine actually work? on AirTalk (NPR/KPCC Radio)
The Smartest Way to Combat Stress (From a TED Speaker and Neuroscientist) in Inc.
Rebecca Brachman: Can We Prevent Depression Before It Happens? “Prevention” on TED Radio Hour (NPR/TED)
A One-Time Treatment Might Prevent Depression From Traumatic Stress in the Observer
Scientists are increasingly excited about ketamine, a party drug that could prevent depression in Business Insider
A Vaccine for Depression? in Nautilus
Could a Dose of Ketamine Prevent Psychiatric Disorders Such as PTSD? from the Columbia University Medical Center Newsroom
Immune to Stress? a post by former National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel
Will there soon be an anti-depression vaccination? in WIRED Magazine Germany
Immune system may remember and adapt to stress in ScienceNews
Cells from stressed-out mice act as an antidepressant in New Scientist
Select Publications
Brachman RA, McGowan JC, Perusini JN, Lim SC, Pham TH, Faye C, Gardier AM, Mendez-David I, David DJ, Hen R, Denny CA. Ketamine as a prophylactic against stress-induced depressive-like behavior. Biol Psychiatry. 2016 May 1; 79(9): 776-86. Epub 2015 May 4. Reviewed in: Price RB. From Mice to Men: Can Ketamine Enhance Resilience to Stress? [Peer commentary on “Ketamine as a prophylactic against stress-induced depressive-like behavior,” by Brachman, et al.]. Biol Psychiatry. 2016 May 1; 79(9): e57-9. Epub 2016 Feb 15.
Brachman RA, Lehmann ML, Maric D, Herkenham M. Lymphocytes from chronically stressed mice confer antidepressant-like effects to naïve mice. J Neurosci. 2015 Jan 28; 35(4): 1530-8.
Lehmann ML*, Brachman RA*, Martinowich K, Schloesser RJ, Herkenham M. Glucocorticoids orchestrate divergent effects on mood through adult neurogenesis. J Neurosci. 2013 Feb 13;33(7):2961-72.
Garrido JL, Medina M, Bravo F, McGee S, Fuentes-Villalobos F, Calvo M, Pinos Y, Bowman JW, Bahl CD, Barría MI, Brachman RA*, Alvarez RA*. IgG targeting distinct seasonal coronavirus- conserved SARS-CoV-2 spike subdomains correlates with differential COVID-19 disease outcomes. Cell Rep. 2022 May 31;39(9):110904.
Mastrodonato A, Martinez R, Pavlova IP, LaGamma CT, Brachman RA, Robison AJ, Denny CA. Ventral CA3 Activation Mediates Prophylactic Ketamine Efficacy Against Stress-Induced Depressive-like Behavior. Biol. Psychiatry. 2018 Dec 1; 84(11): 846-856. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.02.011. Epub 2018 Feb 23.
LaGamma CT, Tang WW, Morgan AA, McGowan JC, Brachman RA, Denny CA. Antidepressant but not prophylactic ketamine administration alters calretinin and calbindin expression in the ventral hippocampus. Front Mol Neurosci. 2018 Nov 6; 11: 404. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2018.00404.
McGowan JC, Hill C, Mastrodonato A, LaGamma CT, Kitayev A, Brachman RA, Narain NR, Kiebish MA, Denny CA. Prophylactic ketamine alters nucleotide and neurotransmitter metabolism in brain and plasma. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018 Aug; 43(9): 1813-1821. doi: 10.1038/s41386-018-0043-7. Epub 2018 Mar 29.
Pham TH, Defaix C, Xu X, Deng S, Fabresse N, Alvarez J, Landry DW, Brachman R, Denny CA, Gardier AM. Common neurotransmission recruited in (R,S)-ketamine and (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine-induced sustained antidepressant-like effects. Biol. Psychiatry. 2018 Jul 1; 84(1): e3-36. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.10.020. Epub 2017 Oct 26.
McGowan JC, LaGamma CT, Lim SC, Tsitsiklis M, Neria Y, Brachman RA, Denny CA. Prophylactic ketamine attenuates learned fear. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2017 July; 42(8): 1577-1589. Epub 2017 Jan 27.
Denny CA, Kheirbek MA, Alba EL, Tanaka K, Brachman RA, Laughman KB, Tomm NK, Turi GF, Losonczy A, Hen R. Memory traces in the dentate gyrus and in CA3 are differentially modulated by experience, time, and adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Neuron. 2014 Jul 2; 83(1): 189-201.
Lehmann ML, Brachman RA, Listwak SJ, Herkenham M. NF-kappaB activity affects learning in aversive tasks: possible actions via modulation of the stress axis. Brain Behav Immun. 2010 Aug;24(6):1008-17.