Olivia P. McKissick

Hippocampal engrams generate flexible behavioral responses and brain-wide network states

The paper reactivates hippocampal fear engrams across different contexts and identifies brain-wide network changes associated with distinct defensive behaviors.

Digging behavior discrimination test to probe burrowing and exploratory digging in male and female mice

This paper introduces a digging behavior discrimination test to differentiate burrowing from exploratory digging in mice, revealing sex-specific differences and improved sensitivity in assessing digging motivation.

Hippocampal cells multiplex positive and negative engrams

The paper identifies distinct cell populations in the ventral hippocampus that encode appetitive and aversive memories, showing molecular, cellular, and projection-specific differences.

Chronic activation of fear engrams induces extinction-like behavior in ethanol-exposed mice

This study shows that optogenetic reactivation of fear engrams in ethanol-exposed mice reduces fear responses, mimicking extinction, despite impaired extinction learning.

Odor Modulates the Temporal Dynamics of Fear Memory Consolidation

This study shows that odor can delay the de-contextualization of fear memories, maintaining hippocampal dependence even at remote time points.