May 1, 2025 | 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 common in conditions such as depression, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Alzheimer’s Disease, and dysregulated empathy also profoundly impacts caregivers and healthcare professionals. By identifying how the neural substrates for these two forms of empathy may diverge, Nikki’s work will deepen our understanding of the biology of empathy and pave the way for targeted therapies that address social dysfunction in neuropsychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative disorders.
We’re incredibly proud of Nikki’s accomplishment and can’t wait to see the discoveries that emerge from her research. Congratulations, Nikki!
