Michael Meaney
Encyclopedia
Michael Meaney, PhD, C.Q., FRSC, is a professor at McGill University
specializing in biological psychiatry
, neurology
, and neurosurgery
, who is primarily known for his research on stress, maternal care, and gene expression
. His research team has "discovered the importance of maternal care in modifying the expression of genes that regulate behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to stress, as well as hippocampal synaptic development" in animal studies. The research has implications for domestic and public policy for maternal support and its role in human disease prevention and economic health.
Meaney is Associate Director of the Research Centre at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute
, Director of the Program for the Study of Behaviour, Genes and Environment, and James McGill Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University
. He was named a "Most Highly Cited Scientist" in the area of neuroscience by the Institute for Scientific Information in 2007 and was also elected to the Royal Society of Canada
(RSC) and named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. For research on stress he has received a Senior Scientist Career Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in 1997. He also, along with fellow researcher from the Douglas Institute Dr. Gustavo Turecki, was awarded the Scientist of the Year Award by Radio-Canada
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
specializing in biological psychiatry
Biological psychiatry
Biological psychiatry, or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as neuroscience, psychopharmacology, biochemistry, genetics and...
, neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
, and neurosurgery
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
, who is primarily known for his research on stress, maternal care, and gene expression
Gene expression
Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as ribosomal RNA , transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA...
. His research team has "discovered the importance of maternal care in modifying the expression of genes that regulate behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to stress, as well as hippocampal synaptic development" in animal studies. The research has implications for domestic and public policy for maternal support and its role in human disease prevention and economic health.
Meaney is Associate Director of the Research Centre at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Douglas Hospital
The Douglas Mental Health University Institute is a Canadian psychiatric hospital located in the borough of Verdun in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is also a teaching hospital affiliated with McGill University...
, Director of the Program for the Study of Behaviour, Genes and Environment, and James McGill Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. He was named a "Most Highly Cited Scientist" in the area of neuroscience by the Institute for Scientific Information in 2007 and was also elected to the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
(RSC) and named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. For research on stress he has received a Senior Scientist Career Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in 1997. He also, along with fellow researcher from the Douglas Institute Dr. Gustavo Turecki, was awarded the Scientist of the Year Award by Radio-Canada
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
Publications
- Maternal programming of defensive responses through sustained effects on gene expression, Josie Diorio, and Michael J. Meaney, J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2007, July; 32(4): 275–284.
- Promoter-Wide Hypermethylation of the Ribosomal RNA Gene Promoter in the Suicide Brain, Patrick O. McGowan, Aya Sasaki,Tony C. T. Huang,Alexander Unterberger, Matthew Suderman,Carl Ernst, Michael J. Meaney, Gustavo Turecki, and Moshe Szyf, PLoS ONE. 2008; 3(5): PLoS ONE. 2008; 3(5): e2085.
- Maternal care effects on the hippocampal transcriptome and anxiety-mediated behaviors in the offspring that are reversible in adulthood, Ian C. G. Weaver, Michael J. Meaney, and Moshe Szyf, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 February 28; 103(9): 3480–3485.
- Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior, Ian C G Weaver, Nadia Cervoni, Frances A Champagne, Ana C D’Alessio, Shakti Sharma1, Jonathan R Seckl, Sergiy Dymov, Moshe Szyf & Michael J Meaney, Nature Neuroscience 7, 847−854 (2004). (PDF, 643 kB)
- Meaney, M.J. (2001) Maternal care, gene expression, and the transmission of individual differences in stress reactivity across generations. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24:1161-1192.