Swanand Lab

Our lab studies how the brain responds to stress and why some people develop depression, dementia, or other brain disorders later in life. We are especially interested in understanding how early-life adversity, stressful experiences and stress hormones affect long-term mental health and makes us vulnerable to various neurodegenerative disorders.

One of our key research areas focuses on astrocytes—a type of brain cell that was once thought to be just a “support cell,” but is now known to play a critical role in brain function, mood, memory, and neurodegenerative diseases like Stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

We use a combination of molecular biology, cell biology, behavioral and computational techniques to understand how brain cells grow, communicate, and survive under stress. Our goal is to discover the biological mechanisms that make the brain vulnerable to diseases—and importantly, to find ways to prevent these conditions before they begin.