Faculty of Science and Information Technology

Dr Deborah Hodgson

• BA (Hons), Macquarie University
• PhD, Macquarie University,
  An Appetitively-induced Hypoalgesia: Pharmacological, Physiological and Psychological Determinants
• Post-Doc, University of California, Los Angeles

• Psychoneuroimmunology
• Neuroimmunology
• Neuroscience
• Health Psychology

• The Laboratory of Neuroimmunology
• Neuroscience Research Group

• Psychobiology
• Psychology for Health Sciences
• Basic Processes II

• Ayesha Bromley - PhD - The Role Of Endocannabinorel, Anandamide In Sickness Behaviours
• Nicolette Hodyl - PhD - Health Outcomes following Pre-Natal Exposure to Glucocorticoids
• Brendon Knott - M - The Effect of Neonatal Endotoxin Exposure on Anxiety Related Bahaviour in Adulthood in the Long Evans Rat
• Klara Krivanek - PhD
• Adam Walker - PhD - Animal Model Psychopatholgy
• Olivia Wynne - PhD - Prenatal Exposure to Stress

Background:
My PhD in neuroscience was completed at Macquarie University, Australia and examined the psychological and pharmacological basis of endogenous pain inhibitory systems.

Upon completion of my degree I took up a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioural Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, to work and study in the field of Psychoneuroimmun-ology. This is a research area, which focuses on interactions between psychological, neuro-endocrine and immune factors.

After completing my fellowship I accepted a position as a Research Associate in the Department of Neurobiology, UCLA, and continued to research in the area of neuroimmunology. In 1998, I relocated to the Department of Psychology at Newcastle University where I am now a Senior Lecturer.

In 1999 I established the Laboratory for Neuroimmunology. The focus of the laboratory is to investigate the relationship between the immune system and the central and peripheral nervous systems, specifically the way in which inflammatory mediators such as cytokines influence endocrine pathways, which in turn regulate immune activity.

Most recently, this research has focused on the effects of neonatal exposure to stress, and/or inflammatory mediators, on the ontogeny of neuroendocrine and immunoregulatory systems.

An additional focus of the laboratory is the characterization of communicationpathways between the brain and immune system with specific reference to cancer and HIV.

Research projects currently underway are investigating:

• the effects of neonatal and prenatal exposure to stress on long term susceptibility to tumor growth and bacterial infection
• the long term effects of pre- and neontal stress on behavioural outcomes in adulthood
• the pathways underlying bi-directional communication between the brain and the immune system and
• the relationship between endogenous pain systems and the immune system.