Research Interests

Serious mental illness results in numerous behavioral and cognitive abnormalities. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie normal behavior and cognition is an important start to developing treatment for these disorders. Dr. Young’s research interests focus on using cross-species translational paradigms to understand these mechanisms. These paradigms are then employed to develop better models of dysfunctional mechanisms relevant to psychiatric disorders. From better models - with etiological relevance to the disorder - we can develop targeted treatments, the clinical relevance of which can then be tested using the same paradigms in humans.

Dr. Young’s primary interest is on understanding aspects of cognitive functioning with relevance to real world functioning. He developed and uses several cognitive tests that can be conducted in rodents and humans to understand mechanisms underlying specific cognitive domains, such as attention, impulsivity, working memory, decision-making, and learning. Examples of this research includes using genetic, pharmacological, and adeno-associated viral techniques to examine what role the dopamine D1 receptor plays in each of these cognitive domains. Another example has been testing a genetic model of bipolar disorder mania to develop putative treatments for the inattention and impulsivity observed in the model, which are also seen in patients when tested by our collaborators in a fMRI setting. Finally, beyond genetic models, Dr. Young is also interested in determining environment X genetic susceptibility factors that may underlie the expression of behavioral abnormalities, including those observed in cycling between depression and mania. Using these paradigms in humans and in animals provides the opportunity for bench-to-bedside translational research, with increased likelihood of clinical success for treating the numerous behavioral and cognitive abnormalities seen in psychiatric disorders.