Distinguished Professor of Psychology
The primary focus of our research is to understand how sex-steroid hormones, aging, and environmental factors affect hippocampal function and hippocampal-dependent memory. This work is motivated by the rapidly expanding elderly population worldwide, which will greatly increase the prevalence of age-related cognitive decline and dementia. Our ultimate goal is to help mitigate the impact of cognitive aging on the individual and society by facilitating the development of treatments to reduce or prevent age-related memory decline in humans. To this end, we utilize rodents as research subjects because rodent species offer an unparalleled opportunity to examine systems-level and cellular-level questions about memory formation in a mammalian system where the effects of aging, hormones, and environmental stimulation are similar to those in humans. Our studies combine a variety of approaches including behavioral, biochemical, pharmacological, genetic, and anatomical methods in order to gain a more detailed picture of the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of aging, estrogens, progestagens, and environmental enrichment on the hippocampus and hippocampal memory formation.
Selected Publications
1. Frick, K. M., ed. (2020, January (1st Quarter/Winter)). 听New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
2. Kim, J., Schalk, J. C., Koss, W. A., Gremminger, R. L., Taxier, L. R., Gross, K. S., & Frick, K. M. (2019, November). 听The Journal of Neuroscience,听39(48), 9598-9610.
3. Taxier, L. R., Philippi, S. M., Fortress, A. M., & Frick, K. M. (2019, August). 听Hormones and Behavior,听114, 104545.
4. Koss, W. A., & Frick, K. M. (2019, May). 听Hormones and Behavior,听111, 96-104.
5.Tuscher, J. J., Taxier, L. R., Fortress, A. M., & Frick, K. M. (2018, December). 听Neurobiology of Learning and Memory,听156, 103-116.
6. Hanson, A. M., Sampathi Perera, K. L., Kim, J., Pandey, R. K., Sweeney, N. K., Lu, X., Imhoff, A., Mackinnon, A. C., Frick, K. M., Donaldson, W. A., & Sem, D. S. (2018, June). 听Journal of Medicinal Chemistry,听61(11), 4720-4738.
7. Frick, K. M., & Kim, J. (2018, May). 听Hormones and Behavior.
8. Koss, W. A., Haertel, J. M., Philippi, S. M., & Frick, K. M. (2018, October (4th Quarter/Autumn)). 听eNeuro,听5(5).
9. Kim, J., & Frick, K. M. (2017, November). 听Psychoneuroendocrinology,听85, 110-114.
10. Frick, K. M., Tuscher, J. J., Koss, W. A., Kim, J., & Taxier, L. R. (2017, July (3rd Quarter/Summer)). 听Saldanha, C., & Robinson, T. (Eds.).听Physiology and Behavior,听187, 57-66.
11. Koss, W. A., & Frick, K. M. (2016, November). Journal of Neuroscience Research,听95(1-2), 539-562 (Invited review for Special issue entitled, 鈥淎n Issue Whose Time Has Come: Sex/Gender Influences on Nervous System Function鈥�).
12. Tuscher, J. J., Szinte, J. S., Starrett, J. R., Krentzel, A. A., Fortress, A. M., Remage-Healey, L., & Frick, K. M. (2016, May).. Hormones and Behavior,听83, 60-67.
13. Kim, J., Szinte, J. S., Boulware, M. I., & Frick, K. M. (2016, March). 17尾-estradiol and agonism of G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor enhance hippocampal memory via different cell-signaling mechanisms. Journal of Neuroscience,听36(11), 3309-3321.
14. Tuscher, J. J., Luine, V. N., Frankfurt, M., & Frick, K. M. (2016, January (1st Quarter/Winter)). . Journal of Neuroscience,听36(5), 1483-1489. Frick, K. M. (2015, September).
15. Frick, K. M. ". Hormones and Behavior,听74, 4-18 (Invited review for Special issue entitled, 鈥淓stradiol and Cognition鈥� for the 2015 Society for Neuroscience meeting).
16. Frick, K. M., Kim, J., Tuscher, J. J., & Fortress, A. M. (2015, September). 听Learning and Memory,听22(9), 472-493 (Invited review for Special issue for the Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society meeting at the 2015 Society for Neuroscience meeting).
17. Fortress, A. M., Heisler, J. D., & Frick, K. M. (2015, May). 听Hippocampus,听25(5), 616-629.
16. Tuscher, J. J., Fortress, A. M., Kim, J., & Frick, K. M. (2015, May). 听Behavioural Brain Research,听285, 140-157 (Invited review for Special issue entitled, 鈥淥bject Recognition Memory in Rats and Mice鈥�).
18. Fortress, A. M., & Frick, K. M. (2014, April (2nd Quarter/Spring)). 听Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology,听35(4), 530-549 (Invited review paper).
