Bénédicte AMILHON

Bénédicte AMILHON is a Professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurosciences. Her research focuses on neural circuits linking emotional behavior and memory, particularly the interaction between emotions and memory formation via raphe-hippocampal pathways. She combines electrophysiology, optogenetics, and calcium imaging to study serotonergic modulation of hippocampal rhythms and anxiety.

• Education:
  • PhD in Neuroscience (Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI, 2009)
  • Postdoctoral training at McGill University (2009-2017)
• Affiliations:
  • Membre du Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine
  • Research grants from FRQS, NARSAD, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Her work has uncovered roles for serotonergic inputs in anxiety modulation and hippocampal theta rhythms. Key awards include the FRQS Junior 1 and NARSAD Young Investigator Award. She teaches courses in cellular/molecular neuroscience and supervises students in master's and doctoral programs.

Current projects investigate neural circuits linking emotion and memory, including grants on raphe-hippocampus pathways (2020-2027) and curved electrode technologies for brain recordings (2023-2026).

• Labs/Teams:
  • Amilhon Lab (specializing in optogenetics and circuit dissection)
  • Part of the Azrieli Centre's interdisciplinary teams
• Grants:
  • CIHR Project Grant (2018-2027)
  • FRQS Junior 2 Award (2023-2026)