The Che Lab @ Yale Psychiatry

We aim to understand how early life experiences, such as sensory inputs, social bonding, stress and substance exposure, impact brain circuit assembly and mature function in models of psychiatric illness.

Our Research

We use a multi-dimensional approach, from transcriptomics to circuits to behavior, to study four areas of early-life experience.

  • How touch and oxytocin signaling shape the circuits underlying early social behavior, using mouse genetics, slice electrophysiology, and in vivo 2-photon imaging.

  • How GABAergic circuits in the prefrontal cortex support fear extinction, with an emphasis on development, using cell type-specific genetic tools and 2-photon imaging through implanted microprisms.

  • How prenatal and perinatal cannabinoid exposure alters circuit and behavior maturation, using longitudinal 2-photon imaging in developing mice.

  • How stress during development reshapes molecular and network function, combining transcriptomic analyses with functional approaches to link early changes to later social behavior.

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Funding & Affiliations

Logos of the National Institutes of Health, Yale School of Medicine, Wu Tsai Institute at Yale University, and Connecticut Mental Health Center

NIDA R01 · NINDS R01 · NINDS K99/R00 · Swebilius Foundation Grant

VA National Center for PTSD · Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC) · BBRF Young Investigator Award

Contact

Alicia Che

Department of Psychiatry, Yale University

Connecticut Mental Health Center
34 Park St, New Haven, CT 06519

alicia.che@yale.edu

@AliciaYChe