Dr. Kelly Lambert
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Profile
Kelly Lambert is a behavioral neuroscientist interested in experience-based neuroplasticity. She enjoys teaching courses such as Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical Neuroscience, and Neuroplasticity Seminar. She and her students are interested in using preclinical animal models to learn more about the neurobiology of stress, resilience, depression, parenting, and natural enrichment. In addition to publishing more than 70 research articles, Dr. Lambert has published two textbooks (Biological Psychology and Clinical Neuroscience) and three mainstream books (Lifting Depression: A neuroscientist’s hands-on approach to activating your brain’s healing power, The Lab Rat Chronicles: A neuroscientist reveals life lessons from the planet’s most successful mammals and, most recently, Well-Grounded: The neurobiology of rational decisions. Her work has been featured on several news outlets such as National Geographic Radio Show, Big Picture Science, To the Best of our Knowledge, WIRED, and CBS Sunday Morning. Her behaviorceutical research was recently described in her 2019 TEDx Bermuda talk. She has received multiple teaching awards including the Virginia Professor of the Year, VFIC Hiter Harris Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the State Council of Higher Education Outstanding Professor Award; additionally, she is the recipient of the 2018 International Behavioral Neuroscience Society Career Achievement Award.
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Awards
Virginia Professor of the Year (awarded by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching)
Outstanding Faculty Award [awarded by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV)]
VFIC Hiter Harris Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
International Behavioral Neuroscience Society Career Achievement Award
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Presentations
Conference Presentations with UR students:
Gibson, A., Kinsley, C., Kent, M. & Lambert, K. (2017). Exploring maternal-based neuroplasticity: Neuroanatomical modifications in the rodent prefrontal cortex. International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Hiroshima, Japan.
Neal, S., Scarola, S., Perdomo, J., Thompson, B., Lambert, S., Kent, M., Bardi, M. & Lambert, K. (2017). Embracing nature’s social network: The effect of an engaging environment on social responsiveness and oxytocin-immunoreactivity. International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Hiroshima, Japan.
Scarola, S., Kent, M., Bardi, M., Neal, S., Perdomo-Trejo, J., Thompson, B., Lambert, S. & Lambert, K. (2017). Neuroeconomics of motherhood: Investigating the neurobiological effects of restricted resources and threat presence in lactating maternal rats (Rattus norvegicus). International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Hiroshima, Japan.
Lambert, K.G., Perdomo Trejo, P., Kent, M., Sydnor, C., Bartlett, A.A., Lapp, H.E., Scarola, S.J., Neal, S., Thompson, B., Vavra, D., Bardi, M. & Hunter, R.G. (2017) Neurobiological components of varying coping strategies: Influence of behavioral, endocrine, neural and dynamic genome markers. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Washington DC.
Kent, M., Scarola, S., Bardi, M., Neal, S., Perdomo-Trejo, J., Thompson, B., Lambert, S. & Lambert, K. (2017). An investigation of restricted environmental resources and threat presence on maternal responsiveness: A rodent model of Variable Socioeconomic Status. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.
Natale, N., Kent, M. & Lambert, K. (2018). An investigation of stress responsivity and neurobiological effects of probiotic-supplemented diets in chronically stressed male Long-Evans rats. Talk presented at the Science Exchange (Lallemand, LLC.), Montreal, CA.
Kovalev, D., Brooks, M., Kent, M. & Lambert, K. Tracking the impact of early-life challenges on neurobiological correlates of social and stress responses in female adult rats (2018). Poster presented at the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society annual meeting in Boca Raton FL, June, 2018.
Fox, Nathan, Crawford, Elizabeth, Knouse, L., Vavra, D., Kent, M. & Lambert, K. (2018). When Behavior Drives Neurobiological Explorations: A preliminary investigation of rodent driving responses and accompanying biomarkers of stress adaptation. Poster presented at the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society annual meeting in Boca Raton FL.
Choe, A., Gillenwater, K, Hindi, B, Pilout, S, Kent, M, Neuwirth, L.S., Skeen, J,
Lynch, K, Ahmed, I. Khairi, E , Bonitto, J. Cabanas, E. Vasquez, M, Cruz, G., Joseph, J., Lambert, K. (2019). Neurobiological and anxiety-like behavioral outcomes of perinatal Pb-exposure in male and female rats. Poster presented at The International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Cairnes, Australia, June, 2019.
Kent, M,. Bowen, G. Desinor, S. Vavra, D., Sciandra, K, Glory, C., Meisel, E., Olivares-Navarrete, R., Puetzer, J. (2019). Disrupted Development: Sex-dependent effects of postnatal restricted resources on neurobiological, behavioral and morphological outcomes. Poster presented at The International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Cairnes, Australia, June, 2019.
Leserve, D., Glory, C., Fox, N., Breakall, K., Meisel, E., Vavra, D., Crawford, L.E., Knouse, L.E.,Kent, M., Lambert, K. (2019). Driving Neurobiological Explorations: Preliminary investigations of biobehavioral effects of passive and active transportation on emotional resilience in Rattus norvegicus. Poster presented at The International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Cairnes, Australia, June, 2019.
Natale, N., Hindi, B., Santore, P., Kent, M.H., Lambert, K.G. (2019). An investigation of a probiotic supplemented diet on stress responsivity and immune function in male Long-Evans rats. Poster presented at The Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, IL.
Lambert, K.G., Leserve, D., Crawford, L.E., Knouse, L., Kent, M.H., Vavra, D., Breakall, K., Glory, C., Miesel, E. (2019). Long-term enriched environment exposure enhances training proficiency in a complex rodent driving task. Poster presented at The Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, IL.
Benson-Amram, S., Kent, M., Daniels, S., Drake, J.H., Fanelli, R., Gilbert, A.T., Johnson, S.R., Lai, A., Miller, A., Natale, N., Houzel-Hercoulano, S., Lambert, K. (2019). Raccoon brains by the numbers: Insights on problem-solving competency. Poster presented at The Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, IL.
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Awards
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Publications
Books
Lambert, K. (2018) Bursting Brain Bubbles: Sharpening our contingency forecasts to avoid emotional crashes. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Lambert, K. (2017). Biological Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lambert, K. (2011). The Lab Rat Chronicles: A neuroscientist reveals life lessons from the planet’s most successful mammals. New York: Perigee Books. German translation published in 2013.
Lambert, K., & Kinsley, C.H. (2005; 2011). Clinical Neuroscience: The neurobiological foundations of mental health. New York: Worth. Second edition published with Oxford University Press.
Lambert, K.G. (2008). Lifting Depression: A neuroscientist’s hands-on approach to activating your brain’s healing power. New York: Basic Books. Paperback released January 4, 2010. Japanese translation published in 2012.
Journal ArticlesKent, M., Scott, S., Lambert, S., Kirk, E., Terhune-Cotter, B., Thompson, B., Neal, S., Dozier, B. Bardi, M. & Lambert, K (2018). Contingency training alters neurobiological components of emotional resilience in male and female rats. Neuroscience, 386, 121-136.
Neal, S., Kent, M., Bardi, M. & Lambert, K.G. (2018). Enriched environment exposure enhances social interactions and oxytocin responsiveness in male Long-Evans rats. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00198
Sullivan, E., Kent, M., Thompson, B., Bardi, M. & Lambert, K. (2019). Maternal-induced shifts in allostatic demands: Reproductive experience alters emotional and cognitive biobehavioral responses in rats (Rattus norvegicus). Neuroscience Letters, 701, 1-7.
Kentner, A., Lambert, K., Hannah, A.J., Donaldson, S.T. (2019). Environmental enrichment: Enhancing neural plasticity, resilience and repair. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00075.
Lambert, K., & Byrnes, E. C. (2019). Challenges to the Parental Brain: Neuroethological and Translational Considerations. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2019.04.004).
Mota, B., Dos Santos, S.E., Ventura-Antunes, L., Jardim-Messeder, D., neves, K., Kazu, R.S., noctor, S., Lambert, K., Bertelsen, M.F., manger, P.R., Sherwood, C.C., Kaas, J.H., & Herculano-Houzel, S. (2019). White matter volume and white/gray matter ratio in mammalian species as a consequence of the universal scaling of cortical folding. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116, 15253-15261.
Lambert, K., Eisch, A.J., Galea, L.A.M., Kempermann, G., & Merzenich, M. (2019). Optimizing Brain Performance: Identifying mechanisms of adaptive neurobiological plasticity. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 105, 60-71.
Lambert, K., Vavra, D., Kent, M. (2019). Avoiding Beach’s Boojum Effect: Enhancing bench to bedside translation with field to laboratory considerations in optimal animal models. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 104, 191-196.
Crawford, L.E., Knouse, L.E., Kent, M., Vavra, D., Harding, O., LeServe, D., Fox, N., Hu, X., Li, P., Glory, C., & Lambert, K.G. (2019). Enriched environment exposure accelerates rodent driving skills. Behavioural Brain Research, 378, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112309.
Lambert, K., Hunter, R.G., Bartlett, A.A., Lapp, H.E., & Kent, M. (2019). In search of optimal resilience ratios: Differential influences of neurobehavioral factors contributing to stress-resilience spectra. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology,. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2019.100802.
Publications with UR Students
Crawford, L.E., Knouse, L.E., Kent, M., Vavra, D., Harding, O., LeServe, D., Fox, N., Hu, X., Li, P., Glory, C., & Lambert, K.G. (2019). Enriched environment exposure accelerates rodent driving skills. Behavioural Brain Research, 378, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112309.
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