Kristen Maynard

Kristen Maynard, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neuroscience, and an Investigator in the Molecular Neuroanatomy Division at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD) in Baltimore, MD. Her research focuses on the molecular architecture of brain reward circuits implicated in psychiatric disorders and addiction.

Research Interests: Dr. Maynard's work lies at the intersection of molecular neuroscience, neuroanatomy, and psychiatric disorders. She investigates the molecular identity and spatial organization of cell populations in key brain regions such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, habenula, and amygdala. Her research aims to identify cell types vulnerable to genetic risks for substance use disorders and depression.

Her lab employs a cross-species translational approach, integrating single-cell sequencing and spatially-resolved transcriptomics in postmortem human brain tissue with circuit-specific molecular profiling in rodent models. This enables the identification of novel therapeutic targets for neuropsychiatric conditions.

The recent publications reflect a strong trend in spatial genomics and computational neuroanatomy, including the development of tools like spatialLIBD and dotdotdot for analyzing complex spatial transcriptomic data. Her work bridges molecular biology, systems neuroscience, and bioinformatics to decode the cellular basis of mental illness.

• Transcriptome-scale spatial gene expression in human cortex
• Single-nucleus RNA-seq in human reward circuitry
• Molecular profiling of BDNF and TrkB signaling pathways
• Development of open-source bioinformatics tools

Scientific Contributions: Dr. Maynard has published in top-tier journals including Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, and Molecular Psychiatry. Her work has advanced spatial transcriptomics in human brain research and contributed to understanding gene regulation in psychiatric disease.

Advising and Grants: She mentors a multidisciplinary team of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students from Johns Hopkins University, and research staff. Her lab receives support through institutional funding and collaborative grants, enabling innovative research in molecular neuroanatomy. She is actively involved in training the next generation of neuroscientists.

Laboratory and Team: The Molecular Neuroanatomy team at LIBD includes researchers with expertise in molecular biology, bioinformatics, and systems neuroscience. The lab collaborates extensively within LIBD and with Johns Hopkins, fostering a dynamic research environment focused on translational neuroscience.