Krissy Lyon (PiN)
The Brain at Work
In her psychology classes at Lewis & Clark College, Krissy Lyon often found herself asking how things in the brain worked. “You’re told, ‘the prefrontal lobe controls executive functions,’ but I wanted to know how,” Lyon explains. Though she discovered answers to many of her questions, others were left unresolved. As a PhD candidate in neuroscience in the Division of Medical Sciences, Lyon now works to find answers to her questions about serotonin-producing neurons.
If it is possible to fall in love with a type of neuron, then Lyon is in love with Drd2-Pet1 neurons. “It’s a bit of a mouthful,” she confesses. This neuron is particularly fascinating for Lyon because it produces serotonin while expressing a receptor for dopamine, another neurotransmitter. “It’s releasing serotonin, but responding to dopamine,” explains Lyon.
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that allow messages to travel between neurons and other cells, such as muscle cells, fat cells, and other neurons. Both serotonin and dopamine are incredibly important neurotransmitters. They are known for their roles in regulating mood and depression, but serotonin also has an effect on a number of other functions, such as attention, sleep, and respiration.
Drd2-Pet1 neurons also help regulate aggression, and Lyon’s research focuses in part on determining the way in which dopamine receptors affect this function. “I’ve been selectively knocking out the dopamine receptor in serotonin neurons and seeing how this changes behavior.”