Lauren Harms

Dr. Lauren Harms is a Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy at the University of Newcastle. She holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Queensland (2012), focusing on environmental risk factors for neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. Her research investigates early-life exposures, particularly maternal immune activation, and their impacts on brain development and electrophysiological markers such as mismatch negativity (MMN) and high-frequency brain waves. She has held postdoctoral roles at the University of Newcastle's School of Psychology and currently leads studies on how developmental and adolescent factors influence cognitive behaviors like attention and memory.

Education:

• PhD (Neuroscience), University of Queensland
• Bachelor of Science (Neuroscience, Honours), University of Queensland

Research Interests: Dr. Harms' work centers on animal models of neurodevelopmental disorders, with a focus on schizophrenia. Her key areas include:

• Maternal immune activation as a risk factor for neuropsychiatric disorders
• EEG and mismatch negativity as translational biomarkers
• Interactions between immune, neurochemical, and cognitive systems
• Neurodevelopmental impacts of early-life environmental exposures

Grants & Funding: She has secured over $750,000 in grants, including NHMRC Project Grants and philanthropic funding, to study maternal immune activation, cannabis exposure, and schizophrenia-related pathologies in rodents. Notable grants include a 2016 NHMRC Project Grant examining combined developmental risk factors ($654,403).

Supervision: Dr. Harms has supervised five completed PhD students, focusing on topics like combined developmental risk factors, MMN in rodent models, and maternal immune activation effects on behavior and cognition.

Labs/Teams: She collaborates extensively with researchers in behavioral neuroscience, including Professors Deborah Hodgson and Patricia Michie, and leads studies in electrophysiology and rodent behavioral modeling.