Sarah M. Clark, PhD

• University of Toledo, BS, Biology, 2003
• University of Maryland Baltimore, Ph.D., Neuropharmacology, 2011
• University of Maryland School of Medicine, Postdoctoral training, Psychoneuroimmunology, 2011-2015

My lab studies neuroimmune interactions in the brain and the role of the adaptive immune system (specifically T cells) in behavioral responses to inflammation and stress. As a psychoneuroimmunologist, my work focuses on elucidating mechanisms by which dysregulation of the neuroimmune axis results in maladaptive behaviors associated with various psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders through the use of animal models, post-mortem human tissue, and clinical research. This research incorporates a range of techniques to examine changes in gene and protein expression (particularly cytokines), cell survival and activation, neuroanatomy, and behavior. Overall, the scope of my research spans three main components: 1) the role of the adaptive immune system in behavioral responses to stress; 2) inflammation and depression; and 3) neuroimmune mechanisms underlying neurodevelopment.

psychoneuroimmunology, T cells, stress, behavior, hippocampus, neurogenesis

Mou TM, Lane MV, Ireland DDC, Verthelyi D, Tonelli LH, and Clark SM. Association of complement component 4 with neuroimmune abnormalities in the subventricular zone in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. Neurobiol Dis. 2022 Oct 15;173:105840.

Ireland DDC, Manangeeswaran M, Lewkowicz AP, Engel K, Clark SM, Laniyan A, Sykes J, Lee HN, McWilliams IL, Kelley-Baker L, Tonelli LH, Verthelyi D. Long-term persistence of infectious Zika virus: Inflammation and behavioral sequela in mice. PLoS Pathog. 2020 Dec;16(12).

Clark SM, Notarangelo FM, Li X., Chen S, Schwarcz R, Tonelli LH. Maternal immune activation in rats blunts brain cytokine and kynurenine pathway responses to a second immune challenge in early adulthood. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2019 Mar 8;89:286-298.

Clark SM, Song C, Li X, Keegan AD, Tonelli LH. CD8(+) T cells promote cytokine responses to stress. Cytokine. 2019. Jan; 113:256-264.

Clark SM, Vaughn CN, Soroka JA, Li X, and Tonelli LH. Neonatal adoptive transfer of lymphocytes rescues social behavior during adolescence in immune-deficient mice. Eur J Neurosci. 2018 Apr; 47(8): 968-978.

Clark SM, Soroka JA, Song C, Li X, Tonelli LH. CD4⁺ T cells confer anxiolytic and antidepressant-like effects, but enhance fear memory processes in Rag2^-/- mice. Stress. 2016 May;19(3):303-11.

Clark SM, Pocivavsek A, Nicholson JD, Notarangelo FM, Langenberg P, McMahon RP, Kleinman JE, Hyde TM, Stiller J, Postolache TT, Schwarcz R, Tonelli LH. Reduced kynurenine pathway metabolism and cytokine expression in the prefrontal cortex of depressed individuals. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2016 Apr 11;41(4):150226. 

Clark SM, Sand, J, Francis, T., Nagaraju, A, Michael, KC, Keegan, AD, Kusnecov, A, Gould, TD, and Tonelli, LH. Immune status influences fear and anxiety responses in mice after acute stress exposure. Brain Behav Immun. 2014. May; 38:192-201.

Clark S, Schwalbe J, Stasko MR, Yarowsky PJ, Costa AC. Fluoxetine rescues deficient neurogenesis in hippocampus of the Ts65Dn mouse model for Down syndrome. Exp Neurol. 2006 Jul; 200(1):256-61.