EUEmory University · Psychology
Stress and Reward Neurobiology Lab
Michael Tilghman Treadway · Atlanta, Georgia
Research Focus
Dr. Michael Treadway's lab at Emory University focuses on understanding how stress impacts the brain and contributes to conditions like major depressive disorder, particularly through the lens of a symptom known as anhedonia, which is the inability to feel pleasure. The lab investigates how changes in glutamate levels in the brain, especially in areas related to processing rewards and motivation, may affect mental health. By examining how medications like ketamine can alter these responses, the lab seeks to identify new treatment strategies for depression.
anhedoniastressglutamatedepressionketaminebrain imagingmPFCmental healthreward valuationneurocognitive correlates
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate the relationship between stress and glutamate levels in patients with major depressive disorder.
AIM 02Analyze how ketamine may reverse stress-induced changes in glutamate that contribute to anhedonia.
AIM 03Characterize the brain networks associated with glutamatergic stress responses.
AIM 04Establish a drug discovery platform based on glutamate system targeting for treating anhedonia.
AIM 05Examine neurocognitive correlates of anhedonia before and after ketamine treatment.
Skills the Lab Values
MRI imagingMR spectroscopyclinical study designdata analysisneuropsychological assessmentrandomized controlled trialspharmacotherapybiomedical research techniquesneuroscience methodologiesstatistical modeling
Output against the department
Publications171top 42% of dept.125th of 296
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations14ktop 17% of dept.51st of 296
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.