Social neuroscience
of pain, affect, and
psychopathology
research
The Smith Lab focuses on the mechanistic understanding of the neurobiological relationships between social behavior, pain, and emotion, while identifying the neural circuitry that is disrupted in disease models related to empathy, addiction, and depression.
Meet Dr.
Monique Smith
Dr. Smith is an Assistant Professor at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) in the departments of Neurobiology and Neurosciences. She received both her B.A. and M.A in Psychology from California State University San Marcos and her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Oregon Health & Science University. She conducted her postdoctoral training at Stanford University with Dr. Robert Malenka.
Lab news
Lab, Research
Congratulations Nikki Keisler
We’re thrilled to share that one of your amazing graduate students, Nikki Keisler, has been awarded a prestigious fellowship for her research on the neural basis of empathy. Nikki’s project, “Anterior Cingulate Encoding of State-Matching and Allogrooming in Mice,” investigates how the brain supports two forms of empathic behavior, state-matching and allogrooming. Empathy deficits are … Read more
Lab, Research
Congratulations Amanda Nguyen!
We’re thrilled to announce that Amanda Nguyen, a graduate student in our lab, has been awarded an NIH F30 fellowship for her groundbreaking research on how hunger shapes social behavior. Amanda’s project investigates the neural circuit that regulates the effects of hunger on social interactions. By uncovering how the brain prioritizes feeding over socializing, her … Read more
October 24, 2024 | On October 24th, Smith Lab marked 2 major milestones-celebrating two years since our founding at UC San Diego, & the grand opening of our newly relocated space at the Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior (CNCB)! We gathered with our research team, friends, and mentors for an evening of food, drinks, … Read more
