Susanna Molas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
Faculty Fellow, Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG)
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, CO
Faculty associate at the Center for Neuroscience (CU Boulder)
Faculty member at the Crnic Institute Boulder Branch for Down Syndrome (CBB)
e-mail:
Background
Dr. Molas received her PhD in Biomedicine in 2012 (Pompeu Fabra University) in the laboratory of Dr. Mara Dierssen at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Spain, where she studied drug addiction phenotypes in a mouse model of nicotine dependence. After the PhD, she worked as a Senior Research Scientist in collaboration with Prous Institute for Biomedical Research (Barcelona), where Dr. Molas assessed the therapeutic value of drugs designed to improve cognitive function in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. On 2014, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Andrew R Tapper at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (UMAss Chan) as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, where she established an independent research line to investigate the neuronal circuits and mechanisms that control novelty responses and habituation learning. Since 2021, she became faculty member in the Dept. of Neurobiology at the UMass Chan where through her independent work on novelty circuits received a 2021 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant and a NIH R21Award (Role: Co-I). She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG). Her work seeks to understand the circuits and mechanisms that underlie the novelty response and adaptive processes, in reward- and aversive-related contexts.
Positions
2023 - Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, US.
2023 - Faculty Fellow, Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder, US.
2023 - Faculty Associate, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, US.
2023 - Faculty Member, Crnic Institute Boulder Branch, University of Colorado, Boulder, US.
2021 - 2022 Instructor, Faculty member, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Worcester, US.
2014 - 2021 Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Department of Neurobiology, Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute , US. (Laboratory of Dr. Andrew R Tapper)
2012 - 2014 Senior Research Scientist, Center for Genomic Regulation and Prous Institute for Biomedical Research.
Education
2012 Ph.D. in Biomedicine, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain (Center for Genomic Regulation, Laboratory of Dr. Mara Dierssen).
2008 M.S. in Biomedical Research, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain.
2007 B.S. in Biotechnology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
Fellowships and awards
2021 BBRF Young Investigator Grant
2008 JAE Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowship awarded by the Spanish National Research Council
2007 B.S. extraordinary award, Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Interests
Anything related to outdoors
Hiking
Running
Biking
