Caitlin M Goodpaster

Caitlin M Goodpaster studies how brain circuits connecting the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and related regions process reward, threat, and stress, and how these circuits change across development and in response to early-life adversity. Her work combines circuit tracing, behavioral testing, and tools like automated pose tracking to understand how factors such as sex, stress, and developmental stage shape emotional and reward-related behaviors, with relevance to mental illness. Much of this research uses animal models to link specific neural pathways (e.g., dopamine and CRH/GABA projections) to memory encoding and avoidance behaviors.

Publication output was minimal before 2020 but has increased since then, with a peak of five publications in 2025, suggesting growing research activity in recent years.

Generated by claude-sonnet-5 from public bibliographic data · Jul 20, 2026