Rosemary Bagot facts for kids

Rosemary C. Bagot, born in 1981, is a Canadian scientist who studies the brain. She is a neuroscientist who focuses on how the brain changes when someone has depression. She works as a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Dr. Bagot's main goal is to understand why some people who experience stressful events become depressed, while others do not. She uses many different ways to research this.

Education and Early Research

Rosemary Bagot went to the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. There, she earned a degree in psychology. After graduating, she stayed at the university to work as a research assistant. She studied how the brain learns and remembers, especially about fear. She also looked at how certain substances affect learning and memory.

Later, Dr. Bagot earned her PhD in neuroscience from McGill University. For her PhD, she studied how a mother's care can affect a child's brain development. She looked at how this care influences learning, brain cell connections, and how the brain handles stress. She also spent a year studying in Amsterdam.

After her PhD, she did more research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Here, she explored why some brains become strong against stress, while others become more likely to show signs of depression.

Understanding Stress and Depression

Dr. Bagot uses many different scientific tools to study stress and depression. In her lab, she combines ways to study molecules, cells, and behavior. She uses methods like:

• In vitro electrophysiology: This means studying the electrical signals of brain cells in a dish.
• In vivo optogenetics: This involves using light to control brain cells in living animals.
• In vivo calcium imaging: This allows her to watch the activity of brain cells in living animals.

She uses these tools with animal models to understand the genomics (how genes work) and brain circuit changes that might lead to depressive behaviors.

Much of her research looks for specific genes and brain networks that might make someone more or less likely to get depression. For example, she found that a part of the brain called the `ventral hippocampus` is important. Animals that are strong against stress have less activity in this brain area. She also found that a mother's care can affect how well the brain works later in life, especially when facing challenges.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Bagot has received several awards for her important work. These include the NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation in 2015. She was also named a William Dawson Scholar at McGill University.

She has been a member of several important scientific groups. These include the Society for Neuroscience since 2004 and the Canadian Association for Neuroscience since 2008.

Sharing Knowledge

Dr. Bagot believes it is important for scientists to share what they learn. She has said that scientists are lucky to do a job they love. She also believes they have a duty to do their work well and share their discoveries. This helps make a bigger positive impact on the world.