Julia Sacher receives NARSAD Young Investigator Award for cutting-edge research

Branco Weiss fellow Julia Sacher has won a prestigious NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the US Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF). The two-year, $70,000 NARSAD grant award is highly coveted within neuroscience circles, in part as a mark of recognition for doing cutting-edge research as recognized by BBRF’s 138-member scientific council; and as a means of facilitating the transition for young scientists to work in laboratories they themselves direct.

Especially noteworthy is the appointment of George Slavich as a co-mentor for Julia Sacher being a former Branco Weiss fellow himself. “I am thrilled to be working more closely with George and also very excited about these great opportunities that have started opening up for me since being elected to Society in Science”, Julia Sacher say.

With these funds, Julia Sacher and her team will start to investigate how stress sensitivity changes in body and brain during the menopausal transition. Specifically, she will address fundamental questions about the mechanisms of how reproductive hormones protect the female body and brain from stress. By identifying a critical time window during which substantial sex hormone fluctuation is associated with quantifiable measures of metabolic risk and risk for depression, the researchers hope to lay the foundation for precision timing of strategies to maintain female mental health and well-being across the life-span.

Read about the NARSAD Young Investigator Award on the BBRF’s website.