Ames Sutton Hickey

Dr. Ames Sutton Hickey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University's College of Liberal Arts. Her research focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying feeding behavior and eating disorders, with particular emphasis on neural circuits in the hypothalamus. She employs genetic and behavioral rodent models combined with systems neuroscience techniques to investigate how neural circuits contribute to susceptibility to under- or over-nutrition.

Dr. Hickey holds a PhD in Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Michigan, where she was mentored by Dr. David Olson and Dr. Martin Myers Jr. She completed postdoctoral training under Dr. Kay Tye at MIT and Dr. Michael Krashes at the NIH/NIDDK, focusing on how food deprivation alters neural circuits and behavior. Her lab (The ASH Lab) is opening in January 2023 and will continue this line of research.

Her work bridges neurobiology and clinical applications, addressing poorly understood areas such as the overlap in neural circuits between anorexia and obesity. Key contributions include studies on AgRP neurons, melanocortin receptor-expressing neurons, and novel tools for measuring rodent behavior. Her research highlights the importance of systems-level approaches in understanding complex feeding behaviors and their dysregulation in disease.

Dr. Hickey’s lab emphasizes translational research, aiming to identify neural pathways that could inform treatments for eating disorders and metabolic disorders. She collaborates on open-source instrumentation development for behavioral studies, exemplified by the FED3 device for home-cage monitoring of food intake.