"Serotonin and the Misbehaving Brain: Unraveling the Biology of Anxiety and Depression" Is Saturday Science Lecture on 10 February

1 February 2007 — A free public lecture titled "Serotonin and the Misbehaving Brain: Unraveling the Biology of Anxiety and Depression" will be given on Saturday, 10 February 2007, by Anne Andrews, assistant professor of molecular toxicology at Penn State. The lecture will take place from 11:00 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. in 100 Thomas Building on the Penn State University Park campus. The event is the third of five weekly lectures in the 2007 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science, an annual series designed as a free minicourse for the enjoyment and education of residents in Central Pennsylvania communities. The theme of the series this year is "Broken Brains: New Research on Brain Disease Is Revealing How the Healthy Mind Works."

Depression and anxiety affect about 20 percent of us, but their underlying causes have not yet been determined. In addition, the actions of the most widely prescribed medications for these conditions—Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro, and others that increase the activity of the neurotransmitter serotonin—are not well understood. These factors impede major therapeutic advances in treatment of these diseases. Andrews will discuss common myths about these disorders and their treatment, then will describe the latest theories of how antidepressants work and the recent evidence that genes and the environment may interact to make some people more susceptible to major depressive and anxiety disorders. "We anticipate that gaining a deeper understanding of current therapies and underlying disease pathologies will help scientists develop rationally designed and more-effective treatments for mood disorders," Andrews says.

Andrews’ scientific career has focused on the chemistry and genetics of the serotonin neurotransmitter system. She seeks to understand the role of serotonin in the causes and treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, and brain aging. Her research group employs genetically engineered mice and chemical neurotoxins to probe the molecular underpinnings of both normal behavior and disease processes. The group develops and makes use of state-of-the-art bioanalytical techniques to investigate brain chemistry, neuroadaptive changes in neuronal innervation, and regulation of key growth factors.

Andrews' research was recognized with Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Intramural Research Training Awards from the National Institutes of Health in 1991 and 1993, respectively. She received a National Institutes of Health Fellows Award for Research Excellence in 1997, an American Parkinson’s Disease Association Award in 2001, and two Eli Lilly Outstanding Analytical Chemist Awards in 2001 and 2002.

Andrews received a bachelor's degree in science from Penn State in 1985. She conducted graduate work in Russian Area Studies at George Washington University in 1985 and 1986. She received a doctoral degree in chemistry from the American University in Washington, D.C., in 1993. She was a postdoctoral fellow in neuropharmacology at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) from 1993 to 1997 and was a senior staff fellow in the NIMH Laboratory of Clinical Science in 1998. She came to Penn State in 1998 as assistant professor of chemistry. In 2005 she was named assistant professor of molecular toxicology in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. She has been active in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences as a member of the Graduate Training Programs in Neuroscience and Molecular Toxicology. Andrews' professional experience also includes working as an intern in the Toxicology and Forensic Pathology Departments at the Pittsburgh Coroner's Office in 1984 and working as an analytical chemist at Hazleton Laboratories in Vienna, Virginia, from 1986 to 1988.

Andrews is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Chemical Society, the Serotonin Club, the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry, the Society for Neuroscience, and the Phi Lambda Upsilon National Honorary Chemical Society. She is a reviewer for Biochemical Pharmacology, Brain Research, the Journal of Neurochemistry, the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Neuroscience Methods, the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the Journal of Physical Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Molecular Psychiatry, Neurobiology of Disease, Neurotoxicology and Teratology, Psychopharmacology, and Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.

The 2007 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science are a free minicourse consisting of five consecutive lectures focused on recent research on the structure and function of the human brain. Audience members who attend the consecutive lectures will gain an understanding of how the study of brain disease is helping researchers to make new discoveries about normal brain function. The lecture series is sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science, with additional financial support provided by Pfizer Inc. The remaining lectures include:

• "Schizophrenia: The Broken Brain and How to Fix It" by Robert Levenson, professor of pharmacology at Penn State, in 100 Thomas Building on 17 February; and
• "Brain Repair: Hopes and Challenges" by Gong Chen, assistant professor of biology at Penn State, in 112 Kern Building on 24 February.

Thomas Building is located at the intersection of Pollock and Shortlidge Roads on the Penn State University Park Campus. Free parking is available in the Eisenhower Parking Deck behind Eisenhower Auditorium. Kern Building is located at the corner of Curtin and Burrowes Roads. Parking is available free of charge at the Nittany Parking Deck adjacent to the Nittany Lion Inn on Fischer Road.

For more information or access assistance, contact the Eberly College of Science Office of Public Information by telephone at (814) 863-0901, by e-mail at science@psu.edu, or click on the web link at http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/frontiers/.

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