Jaime Vantrease, PhD

Dr. Jamie Vantrease graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois with a degree in Biology. From there she went on to obtain her PhD in the department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Loyola University Chicago in Maywood, Illinois. Her thesis work identified a role for serotonin-1A receptors in the sympathetic and blood pressure recovery from blood loss. She went on to conduct her postdoctoral research at Rosalind Franklin University in the department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology where she examined the sex-specific neural circuits underlying behavioral responses to anxiety. She then transitioned to her current position of Research Assistant Professor in the Physiology and Biophysics discipline in July 2021.

Current Research

Dr. Vantrease’s current research is focused on understanding the impact of psychosocial stress on the development of cardiovascular disease. It is known that both stress and anxiety induce increases in heart rate and blood pressure that are essential for survival, but can become maladaptive over time. These repeated exaggerations in blood pressure and heart rate can impact cardiovascular disease risk, but the neural circuits that control psychosocial stress responses are not well understood. We utilize intersectional chemogenetic approaches combined with radio-telemetry to study the contribution of specific neural circuits in the cardiovascular responses to stress and anxiety in male and female rats. 

Publications

• Vantrease, J. E., Avonts, B., Padival, M., DeJoseph, M. R., Urban, J. H., & Rosenkranz, J. A. (2022). Sex Differences in the Activity of Basolateral Amygdalar Neurons That Project to the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis and Their Role in Anticipatory Anxiety. The Journal of Neuroscience, 42(22), 4488 LP – 4504. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1499-21.2022
• Ferrara, NC, Vantrease JE, Loh MK, Rosenkranz J, Rosenkranz JA. (2020) Chapter 11: Protect and harm: Effects of stress on the amygdala. In: Urban, JH, Rosenkranz, JA, editors. Handbook of Amygdala Structure and Function, Vol 26. Amsterdam: Elsevier; p241-274.
• Blume SR, Freedberg M, Vantrease JE, Chan R, Padival M, Record MJ, DeJoseph MR, Urban JH, Rosenkranz JA. (2017) Sex- and Estrus-Dependent Differences in Rat Basolateral Amygdala. J Neurosci., 37(44):10567-10586. PMID: 28954870.
• Twining RC*, Vantrease JE*, Love S, Padival M, Rosenkranz, JA. (2017) An intra-amygdala circuit specifically regulates social fear learning. Nat Neurosci., 20:459-469. PMID: 28114293 (*Equal contribution)
• Vantrease JE*, Nichole L. Dudek*, Lydia L. DonCarlos, Karie E. Scrogin. (2015) 5-HT1A receptors of the nucleus tractus solitarii facilitate sympathetic recovery following hypotensive hemorrhage in Rats. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol., 309(2): H335-44. PMID: 25980022 (*Equal contribution).
• Padival MA, Blume SR, Vantrease JE, Rosenkranz JA. (2015) Qualitatively different effect of repeated stress during adolescence on principal neuron morphology across lateral and basal nuclei of the rat amygdala. Neuroscience, 291: 128-45. PMID: 25701125