DR. MARIA MORENA
Postdoctoral Fellow (2014 - 2020)

research interests

The overarching aim of my research is to investigate the role of the endocannabinoid system in the modulation of memory processes and its interaction with stress, to elucidate mechanisms of psychiatric diseases, including PTSD and anxiety disorders. In the Hill lab, I am looking at the influence of stress on mechanisms of contextual and cued fear memory extinction and recall and its interaction with the endocannabinoid system within the hippocampus and the amygdala, by using in vivo electrophysiology, biochemical and behavioral pharmacology techniques.

education

​​I received my M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, my Pharm.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), in the laboratory of Dr. Patrizia Campolongo. During my M.Sc. and Ph.D. I worked on the interaction between the endocannabinoid system, stress hormones and emotional arousal in the modulation of aversive and spatial memory and the effects of anesthetic agents on emotional memory consolidation.

hobbies

​I like to travel, going shopping, reading books and having good food.

favorite paper

My favourite paper is “Selective Erasure of a Fear Memory” by Han et al. 2009 (Science 323:1492-6). This is a ground breaking paper showing that deleting a very small subset of neurons recruited into a fear memory trace in the lateral amygdala results in the erasure of that memory.​

publications

SELECT PUBLICATIONS
Morena M., Aukema R.J., Leitl K.D., Rashid A.J., Vecchiarelli H.A., Josselyn S.A., Hill M.N. Upregulation of anandamide hydrolysis in the basolateral complex of amygdala reduces fear memory expression and indices of stress and anxiety. J Neurosci 2019; 39:1275–1292.

Morena M., Berardi A., Colucci P., Palmery M., Trezza V., Hill M. N., Campolongo P. Enhancing endocannabinoid neurotransmission augments the efficacy of extinction training and ameliorates traumatic stress-induced behavioral alterations in rats. Neuropsychopharmacology 2018; 43:1284-96.

Morena M., Patel S., Bains J. S., Hill M. N. Neurobiological interactions between stress and the endocannabinoid system. Neuropsychopharmacology 2016; 41:80-102.

Morena M., De Castro V., Gray M.J., Palmery M., Trezza V., Roozendaal B., Hill M.N. and Campolongo P. Training associated-emotional arousal shapes endocannabinoid modulation of spatial memory retrieval in rats. J Neurosci 2015; 35:13962-74.

Morena M., Roozendaal B., Trezza V., Ratano P., Peloso A., Hauer D., Atsak P., Trabace L., Cuomo V., McGaugh J.L., Schelling G. and Campolongo P. Endogenous cannabinoid release within prefrontal-limbic pathways affects memory consolidation of emotional training. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:18333-8.

Full list of publications​

Awards

Prizes/Awards/Career highlights:
Aug 2019         Meeting Co-Chair Gordon Research Seminar “Amygdala Function in Emotion, Cognition & Disease”
Mar 2019        Marie Skłodowska-Curie Seal of Excellence, awarded by the European Commission, Horizon 2020
Jan 2019          2018 Postdoctoral Researcher of the Year Award (second place) awarded by the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (University of Calgary)
Jul 2018           ICRS Poster Presentation Award 2018 - 28th Annual ICRS symposium on Cannabinoids
Apr 2018         Young Research Award 2017 - Sapienza University, Rome
Mar 2018        2018 FENS-IBRO/PERC Travel Award - 11th FENS Forum of Neuroscience
Oct 2017         Otsuka 2017 Prize for Young Scientist - Italian Society of Pharmacology
Jan 2017          2016 Postdoctoral Researcher of the Year Award (2nd place) - University of Calgary
Jan 2017          HBI Trainee Publication Award 2016 awarded by University of Calgary
Sept 2016        2016 Dr. Hubert van Tol Travel Grant - the Brain Canada Foundation
Aug 2016         SFN Trainee Professional Development Award - SFN Meeting 2016
Jun 2016         ACNP Travel Award - the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Mar 2016        2015 Postdoctoral Researcher of the Year Award (1st place) - University of Calgary
Jan 2016          Young Research Award 2015 - Sapienza University, Rome
Jan 2016          HBI Trainee Publication Award - University of Calgary
Sep 2015         SIF-Farmindustria-2015 Prize – Italian Society of Pharmacology
Oct 2013         Oral communication prize - 36th SIF Conference
 
Research/Salary grants:
May 2016-Apr 2018    Canadian Institutes of Health and Research (CIHR) Postdoctoral national competitive grant (CAN$ 135,000)
Apr 2016-Apr 2018     Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS) Postdoctoral provincial competitive grant (CAN$ 165,000)
Apr 2016                     Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education” Postdoctoral competitive grant, declined
Apr 2016                     Cumming School of Medicine Postdoctoral Scholarship, declined
Apr 2013 - Oct 2013   SIF research fellowship - Italian Society of Pharmacology (€ 6,000)
Oct 2012-Nov 2012     DAAD research fellowship - German Academic Exchange Service (€ 1,000)
Nov 2011-Oct 2013     PhD fellowship – Italian Ministry of Education (€ 40,900)

Contact: mmorena@ucalgary.ca

​DR. HALEY VECCHIARELLI
Former:  MSc (2012-2014) and PhD Student (2014 - 2020)​​
Current : Postdoctoral Fellow  (UVic; Dr. Marie-Eve Tremblay)

research interests

My overarching research aims are to understand how the immune system and immune cells affect the brain to change behavior.

education

- B.A. Neuroscience and Behaviour (Barnard College) 2010 (Thesis Supervisor, Dr. Karen Bulloch, The Rockefeller University)
- MSc Neuroscience (UCalgary) 2014 (Dr. Matthew Hill)
- PhD Neuroscience (UCalgary) 2020 (Dr. Matthew Hill)
- Postdoctoral Fellow (UVic) 2020 (Dr. Marie-Éve Tremblay)

hobbies

I enjoy reading, video games, and cooking.​

favorite paper

One of my favourite papers (there are many), is Nimmerjahn et al., 2005: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/308/5726/1314. These videos of how dynamic microglia are in the parenchyma are mesmerizing. ​

publications

Select Publications:
Comorbid anxiety-like behavior in a rat model of colitis is mediated by an upregulation of corticolimbic fatty acid amide hydrolase.
Vecchiarelli HA, Morena M, Keenan CM, Chiang V, Tan K, Qiao M, Leitl K, Santori A, Pittman QJ, Sharkey KA, Hill MN (2021).
Neuropsychopharmacology 46(5), 992-1003
LINK

Genetic Variants of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase Modulate Acute Inflammatory Responses to Colitis in Adult Male Mice
Vecchiarelli HA, Aukema RJ, Hume C, Chiang V, Morena M, Keenan CM, Nastase AS, Lee FS, Pittman QJ, Sharkey KA, Hill MN. (2021)
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, published ahead of print
LINK

​Divergent Responses of Inflammatory Mediators in the Amygdala and Prefrontal Cortex to Acute Psychological Stress.
Vecchiarelli HA, Gandhi CP, Gray JM, Morena M, Hassan KI, Hill MN (2016)
Brain, Behavior and Immunity 51, 70-91
​LINK
​
Full list of publications

awards

PhD Vanier CGS (CIHR) (2016-2019)
PhD Killam (2018-2020)
PhD Alberta Innovates Graduate Studentship (2015-2019)
PhD Branch Out Neurological Foundation PhD Grant (2015-2019)
Postdoc CIHR Fellowship (2020-2023)

Contact: haleyvecchiarelli@uvic.ca       /       Twitter: @haleyv

DR. MARTIN STICHT
Former postdoctoral fellow (2015 - 2019)

​Publications: Full list of publications

ALESSIA SANTORI
Visiting Student (2017)

research interests

My research is focused on the interaction between stress hormones and the endocannabinoid system, evaluating its impact on emotional memory. During my research period at Dr. Matthew Hill’s lab (2017), I examined how circadian rhythm, stress intensity and sex differences influence endocannabinoid modulation of emotional memory. Currently, I am investigating whether endocannabinoids differentially regulate fear memory retrieval depending on the environment-associated emotional arousal and if any alteration of the hippocampus-basolateral amygdala functional connectivity interfere in their modulation of memory. To this aim, I am using a wide range of techniques, such as pharmacology, optogenetics, immunohistochemistry and behavioural tests.

education

​​I completed my MSc in Medicinal Chemistry (2017) from Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). My enthusiasm for cognitive neuroscience grew in Prof. Patrizia Campolongo’s lab, where I first approached to the cannabinoid field. In 2018, I joined Prof. Ryan LaLumiere’s lab (University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA) for a research period abroad.

hobbies

​In my spare time, I love taking pictures, hiking, watching TV shows and having happy hours with friends.

favorite paper

​Favourite paper: “Creating a false memory in the hippocampus.” (Ramirez et al., 2013). Is there anything else in the reality that is more similar to Inception by Christopher Nolan?

publications

List of publications

Contact: alessia.santori@uniroma1.it

DR. MEGAN GRAY
Former postdoctoral fellow (2013 - 2015)

​Publications: Full list of publications

ANNIE ZHAN
Honor's Student (2019-2020)

​RESEARCH INTERESTS: I worked in the lab between 2019-2020, where I investigated the role of tonic endocannabinoid signaling on the stress response of female mice for my honours thesis. ​

WHERE I AM NOW: I will begin a Master of Management at the University of Calgary in Fall 2020.

HIULAN YAU
Summer Student, Coursework, and Honor's Student (2018-2020)

​RESEARCH INTERESTS: During the summer of 2019, I worked with Gavin Petrie on his project that investigated  anandamide in the regulation of the stress response. Throughout the summer of 2018 and for my honours thesis in 2019-2020, I worked with Georgia Balsevich investigating the role of anandamide signalling in glucocorticoid-mediated weight gain.

VINCENT CHIANG
Summer Student, Coursework, and Honor's Student (2017 - 2019)

RESEARCH INTERESTS: Interaction of endocannabinoids on inflammation and anxiety, and the effects of cannabidiol on anxiety
​
WHERE I AM NOW: Currently I am doing a Master of Science with Dr. Kent Hecker at University of Calgary

SANDRA KADHIM
Summer student, coursework, and Honor's Student (2018 - 2020)​

​RESEARCH INTERESTS: I helped to characterize stress-induced activation of the basolateral amygdala, as well as identify expression of FAAH on individual projection populations within the basolateral amygdala

WHERE I AM NOW: Medical Student at the University of Calgary (Class of 2023)

KIRA LEITL
Undergraduate Research Assistant (2014 - 2018)

RESEARCH INTERESTS: I was working on a project exploring a novel interaction between a kinase (PAK-1) and the endocannabinoid signalling molecule anandamide in the context of stress-induced anxiety.  My role in the lab was an undergraduate research assistant, mainly working with Dr. Maria Morena (approx. 2014-2018).
​
WHERE I AM NOW: Right now I am finishing my Master's in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry focused on protein crystallography at the University of Oslo, and am hoping to continue with a PhD in structural biology somewhere in Europe (still waiting to hear back).  ​​
​
Full List of Publications

DAVID LAU
Honor's Student (2016 - 2017)

RESEARCH INTERESTS: I worked with Dr. Martin Sticht to study the interaction of stress, endocannabinoids, and feeding
WHERE I AM NOW: PhD Student in Dr. Stephanie Fulton's lab at Universite de Montreal ​
List of Publications

KOWTHER HASSAN
Honor's student, summer student, and research assistant (2012-2014)

RESEARCH INTERESTS: I examined the endocannabinoid system and its involvement in stress and anxiety, specifically investigating the interaction between corticotropin releasing hormone and anandamide within the basolateral amygdala.

WHERE I AM NOW: I did a bit of a 180 and went on to get a bachelor's degree in computer science at University of Calgary where I focused on medical technology.  I work as a software developer full time and I do freelance work in medical technology.

List of Publications

VANESSA HILL
Summer Student (2013)

RESEARCH INTERESTS: I studied altered pituitary cytokine mRNA expression in response to acute stress
WHERE I AM NOW: I completed my PharmD in 2019 and am now a pharmacist in inpatient mental health

JACK BIEBER 
​Honor's Student and Summer Student (2019-2020)

RESEARCH INTERESTS: ​I completed my undergraduate honours thesis in the Hill lab in 2019-2020, studying inhaled cannabis pharmacokinetics and maternal-fetal transmission, and the effects of prenatal cannabis exposure on fetal development and gene expression
​​
WHERE I AM NOW: I will be attending the medical school at the University of Alberta beginning in Fall 2020