Sarah Ayash

Sarah Ayash
Leibniz-Gemeinschaft | LG · Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR)

Doctor of Philosophy

About

14
Publications
5,599
Reads
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329
Citations
Introduction
My research focuses on understanding stress resilience mechanisms. We developed a mouse model of resilience with enhanced face validity. Our research also shows that resilience can be fostered through a process termed stress inoculation. Our preliminary data suggest that mesolimbic dopamine is critical for the learning and memory processes underlying resilience in our model. Our future work aims to rigorously test the generalisability of our findings across both sexes.
Additional affiliations
March 2022 - April 2025
Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology
Position
  • Principal Investigator
Description
  • This project is one WP out of four that constitute a Leibniz Collaborative Excellence entitled "Supporting neuronal network state transitions to foster stress resilience". Here, we conceptualise resilience within the framework of learning as an adaptive and dynamic process of a functionally distributed network. In this WP, we put forward a comprehensive assessment of reversal learning while conducting fMRI in awake mice, affording brain wide identification of network state transitions.
September 2021 - February 2023
University of Geneva
Position
  • Researcher
Description
  • In this project, I strive to identify the neural mechanisms underlying stress resilience using a newly developed behavioural mouse model and an original design to extinguish social fear memories in the mouse. I anticipate that this project with its ambitious implementation of cutting edge technology of modern circuit neuroscience will contribute to a precise understanding of mesolimbic circuit involvement in stress resilience.
May 2020 - December 2021
Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Position
  • Researcher
Description
  • In this project, I investigate anatomical (using MRI) and brain connectivity (using DTI) biomarkers of stress resilience and susceptibility by employing a newly developed behavioural mouse model.
Education
July 2018 - October 2018
Stanford University
Field of study
  • Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
January 2016 - December 2019
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Field of study
  • Translational Medicine
September 2013 - September 2015
University of Tuebingen
Field of study
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Publications

Publications (14)
Article
Full-text available
Chronic social defeat (CSD)-induced social avoidance is considered to model a feature of stress-related mental dysfunction, while its absence has been used as a proxy of resilience in rodents. However, knowledge on the mechanisms shaping CSD-induced individual outcomes remains fragmentary. Fear conditioning has been described as a suitable model in...
Article
Full-text available
Each year, more than half a billion people in the world are affected by stress-related health disorders. Consequently, there is an urgent need for new insights to guide interventions designed to increase stress resilience. Studies of humans and various animals have uncovered the process of stress inoculation, in which exposure to mild stressors enh...
Preprint
Full-text available
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not only a threat to physical health but is also having severe impacts on mental health. While increases in stress-related symptomatology and other adverse psycho-social outcomes as well as their most important risk factors have been described, hardly anything is known about potential protective factors. Resilience refers...
Preprint
Full-text available
Chronic social defeat (CSD) in mice has been increasingly employed in experimental resilience research. Particularly, the degree of CSD-induced social avoidance is used to classify animals into resilient (socially non-avoidant) versus susceptible (avoidant). Inspired by human data pointing to threat-safety discrimination and responsiveness to extin...
Article
Full-text available
Correlational studies of humans suggest that exposure to early life stress has long-term effects on neural circuits involved in vulnerability and resilience to mental health disorders. Stress-related mental health disorders are more prevalent in women than in men. Here, female squirrel monkeys are randomized to intermittently stressful (IS) social...
Article
Full-text available
Consistent evidence from human data points to successful threat-safety discrimination and responsiveness to extinction of fear memories as key characteristics of resilient individuals. To promote valid cross-species approaches for the identification of resilience mechanisms, we establish a translationally informed mouse model enabling the stratific...
Article
Laboratory mouse models offer opportunities to bridge the gap between basic neuroscience and applied stress research. Here we consider the ecological validity of social defeat stressors in mouse models of emotional vulnerability and resilience. Reports identified in PubMed from 1980 to 2020 are reviewed for the ecological validity of social defeat...
Article
Full-text available
Upon chronic stress, a fraction of individuals shows stress resilience, which can prevent long-term mental dysfunction. The underlying molecular mechanisms are complex and have not yet been fully understood. In this study, we performed a data-driven behavioural stratification together with single-cell transcriptomics of the hippocampus in a mouse m...
Article
Chronic social defeat (CSD) in mice has been increasingly employed in experimental resilience research. Particularly, the degree of CSD-induced social avoidance is used to classify animals into resilient (non-avoidant) versus susceptible (avoidant). Inspired by human data pointing to threat-safety discrimination and responsiveness to extinction tra...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not only a threat to physical health but is also having severe impacts on mental health. Although increases in stress-related symptomatology and other adverse psycho-social outcomes, as well as their most important risk factors have been described, hardly anything is known about potential protective factors. Resi...
Poster
Full-text available
During the covid-19 outbreak front line workers are going to be exposed to a range of extreme demands and significant adversity. Resilience can help protect workers and enable them to maintain their performance, health and wellbeing during this time. For more information, please visit: https://www.supporttheworkers.org/briefing-notes/resilience

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