-
-
-
-
Lauren is broadly interested in how microcircuits in the brain can influence behaviors. Lauren started her research journey as a freshman at Arizona State University where in the behavioral neuroscience department she worked in the neurobiology of learning and memory lab led by Dr. Heather Bimonte-Nelson. Lauren's projects there focused on the impact of estrogenic hormone therapy on cognition. She then remained at ASU after graduation and worked in the developmental neuroscience lab of Dr. Jason Newbern for two years as a research technician. As a trained behaviorist, she was able to build the behavioral aspect of Dr. Newbern’s lab in order to study a group of neurodevelopment disorders known as RASopathies. Lauren focused on inhibitory interneurons of the cortex and eventually went on to write a funded NSF-GRFP on inhibitory cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain with Dr. Newbern’s guidance. Laureen is now a doctoratal student at The University of Texas at Austin working in Dr. Darrin Brager’s lab where she is investigating the physiological properties of inhibitory interneurons in the stratum oriens of the hippocampus.
-
Michael C. Holter, Lauren T. Hewitt, Stephanie V. Koebele, Jessica Judd, Christopher Wedwick, Heather A. Bimonte-Nelson, Cheryl D. Conrad, Benjamin G. Neel, Toshiyuki Araki, William D. Snider, Jason M. Newbern. The Noonan Syndrome-linked Raf1L613V mutation drives increased glial number in the mouse cortex and enhanced learning. PLoS One Genetics, 2019.
Ryoko Hiroi, Giulia Weyrich, Stephanie V. Koebele, Sarah E. Mennenga, Joshua S. Talboom, Lauren T. Hewitt, Courtney N. Lavery, Perla Mendoza, Ambra Jordan, Heather A. Bimonte-Nelson. Benefits of hormone therapy estrogens depend on the type of estrogen: 17β-estradiol and conjugated equine estrogens have differential effects on cognitive, anxiety-like, and depressive-like behaviors and increase tryptophan hydroxylase-2 mRNA levels in distinct subregions of the dorsal raphe nucleus. Frontiers in Science, 2016.
Stephanie V. Koebele, Sarah E. Mennenga, Ryoko Hiroi, Alicia M. Quihuis, Lauren T. Hewitt, Mallori Poisson, Loretta P. Mayer, Cheryl A. Dyer, Leona S. Aiken, Laurence Demers, Catherine Carson, Heather A. Bimonte-Nelson. Cognitive Changes Across the Menopause Transition: A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Impact of Age and Ovarian Status on Spatial Memory. Hormones and Behavior, 2016.
Sarah E. Mennenga, Leslie C. Baxter, Itamar S. Grunfeld, Gene A. Brewer, Leona S. Aiken, Elizabeth B. Engler-Chiurazzi, Bryan W. Camp, Jazmin I. Acosta, B. Blair Braden, Keley R. Schaefer, Julia E. Gerson, Courtney N. Lavery, Candy W.S. Tsang, Lauren T. Hewitt, Melissa L. Kingston, Stephanie V. Koebele, K. Jake Patten, B. Hunter Ball, Michael K. McBeath, Heather A. Bimonte-Nelson. Navigating to new frontiers in behavioral neuroscience: Traditional neuropsychological tests predict human performance on a rodent-inspired radial-arm maze. Frontiers in Science, 2014.
-
National Science Foundation - Graduate Reasearch Fellowships Program 2017-2020
Austin Conference for Learning and Memory - Best Poster Award 2019
Center of Natural Sciences - Professional Development Travel Award 2019
-
Her STEM Story podcast guest - spring 2019
Lauren T. Hewitt & Darrin H. Brager. Dysfunction of hippocampal inhibitory interneurons in Fragile- X syndrome. Presented at the Austin Conference for Learning and Memory (Best Poster Award) and the Society for Neuroscience conference, 2019
E. Robson, A. J. Mably, Lauren T. Hewitt, J. B. Trimper, L. L. Colgin. Impaired CA2 place cell remapping in response to social olfactory stimuli in a rat model of fragile X syndrome. Presented at Society for Neuroscience, 2019.
Michael C. Holter, Lauren T. Hewitt, Stephanie V. Koebele, Jessica Judd, Christopher Wedwick, Heather A. Bimonte-Nelson, Cheryl D. Conrad, Benjamin G. Neel, Toshiyuki Araki, William D. Snider, Jason M. Newbern. The Noonan Syndrome-linked Raf1 L613V mutation drives increased glial number and alterations in learning. Presented at Society for Neuroscience, 2016.
Lauren T. Hewitt, Moreno, Mario; Bjorklund, George; Daniels, Carter; Olive, Foster; Sanabria, Fedrico; Marsh, Steve; Treiman, David; Snider, WD; Newbern, Jason. Hyperactivation of ERK/MAPK signaling in developing GABAergic interneurons promotes increased cortical excitability. Presented at Society for Neuroscience 2015.
Lauren Hewitt, Sarah E. Mennenga, Stephanie V. Koebele, Courtney N. Lavery, Perla K. Mendoza, Heather A. Bimonte-Nelson. Conjugated equine estrogens impact cognition: effects replicate in the Sprague-Dawley rat. Presented at the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, 2013.
-
