Effect of traumatic stress on corticolimbic circuits governing fear, empathy/ social behaviours, pain and anxiety, and role gut‑brain‑microbiome interactions in stress-related disorders such as PTSD and depression.

Dr Rachel Moloney 

Dr. Rachel Moloney received a B.Sc. (Hons) in Biochemistry from UCC in 2009 and an M.Sc. in Neuropharmacology from National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). She completed her Ph.D. in the Dept. of Psychiatry and Dept. Anatomy & Neuroscience, UCC in 2014, followed by post-doctoral research at APC Microbiome Ireland. Rachel then pursued post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, USA and the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. During this time, she was awarded a prestigious NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behaviour Research foundation (USA). In December 2019, Rachel took up her position as Lecturer in the School of Pharmacy and Dept. of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, UCC. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2024.

Research interests: Dr. Moloney’s research focuses on understanding the role of the brain-gut microbiome axis in stress-related illnesses. Her lab studies stress neurobiology across the lifespan, utilizing a variety of animal models from stress paradigms to germ free rodents as well as cutting edge tools such as DREADDs to manipulate neurocircuitry and unravel circuits underlying disease. Dr. Moloney's current research is focused on understanding the social transmission of emotion as well as the role of traumatic stress on brain circuitry, affective and cognitive related behaviours and pain sensitivity, particularly in the context of PTSD, anxiety and depression. More recently, she began investigating the mechanisms linking stress related to pregnancy or stroke and depression (peripartum depression and post-stroke depression).

Publications:

• Laudani S, Torrisi SA, Alboni S, Bastiaanssen TFS, Benatti C, Rivi V, Moloney RD, Fuochi V, Furneri PM, Drago F, Salomone S, Tascedda F, Cryan JF, Leggio GM. Gut microbiota alterations promote traumatic stress susceptibility associated with p-cresol-induced dopaminergic dysfunctions. Brain Behav Immun. 2023 Jan;107:385-396. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.11.004.
• Nawreen N, Cotella EM, Morano R, Mahbod P, Dalal KS, Fitzgerald M, Martelle S, Packard BA, Franco-Villanueva A, Moloney RD, Herman JP. Chemogenetic Inhibition of Infralimbic Prefrontal Cortex GABAergic Parvalbumin Interneurons Attenuates the Impact of Chronic Stress in Male Mice. eNeuro. 2020 Oct 28;7(5):ENEURO.0423-19.2020. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0423-19.2020.
• Morais LH, Golubeva AV, Moloney GM, Moya-Pérez A, Ventura-Silva AP, Arboleya S, Bastiaanssen TFS, O'Sullivan O, Rea K, Borre Y, Scott KA, Patterson E, Cherry P, Stilling R, Hoban AE, El Aidy S, Sequeira AM, Beers S, Moloney RD, Renes IB, Wang S, Knol J, Ross RP, O'Toole PW, Cotter PD, Stanton C, Dinan TG, Cryan JF. Enduring Behavioral Effects Induced by Birth by Caesarean Section in the Mouse. Curr Biol. 2020 Oct 5;30(19):3761-3774.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.044.
• Cotella EM, Morano RL, Wulsin AC, Martelle SM, Lemen P, Fitzgerald M, Packard BA, Moloney RD, Herman JP. Lasting Impact of Chronic Adolescent Stress and Glucocorticoid Receptor Selective Modulation in Male and Female Rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2020 Feb;112:104490. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104490. Epub 2019 Oct 27.
• Burokas A, Arboleya S, Moloney RD, Peterson VL, Murphy K, Clarke G, Stanton C, Dinan TG, Cryan JF. Targeting the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis: Prebiotics Have Anxiolytic and Antidepressant-like Effects and Reverse the Impact of Chronic Stress in Mice. Biol Psychiatry. 2017 Oct 1;82(7):472-487. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.12.031.

I welcome enquires from students interested in discussing MSc or PhD opportunities and post-doctoral researchers wishing to join the research group. If you have ideas for collaborations on existing work or would like to discuss your own research interests then there are a number of PhD studentships, Postdoctoral fellowships and other funding schemes available which I am more than happy to discuss this with you in the first instance by email rachelmoloney@ucc.ie