Scholars@Duke
Staci D. Bilbo

Staci D. Bilbo

Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Psychology & Neuroscience
GSRB II Rm 3016, Box 91050, Durham, NC 27708-0086
GSRB II Rm 3016, Box 91050, Durham, NC 27708

Featured Works

Got worms? Perinatal exposure to helminths prevents persistent immune sensitization and cognitive dysfunction induced by early-life infection.

Journal article Brain Behav Immun · January 2016 Featured Publication The incidence of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases has risen dramatically in post-industrial societies. "Biome depletion" - loss of commensal microbial and multicellular organisms such as helminths (intestinal worms) that profoundly modulate the immune ... Full text Link to item Cite

Developmental programming of brain and behavior by perinatal diet: focus on inflammatory mechanisms.

Journal article Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · September 2014 Featured Publication Obesity is now epidemic worldwide. Beyond associated diseases such as diabetes, obesity is linked to neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression. Alarmingly maternal obesity and high-fat diet consumption during gestation/lactation may "program" offspring ... Full text Cite

Adolescent morphine exposure affects long-term microglial function and later-life relapse liability in a model of addiction.

Journal article J Neurosci · January 16, 2013 Featured Publication Adolescence in humans represents a unique developmental time point associated with increased risk-taking behavior and experimentation with drugs of abuse. We hypothesized that exposure to drugs of abuse during adolescence may increase the risk of addiction ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sex, glia, and development: interactions in health and disease.

Journal article Horm Behav · August 2012 Featured Publication Microglia and astrocytes are the primary immune cells within the central nervous system. Microglia influence processes including neural development, synaptic plasticity and cognition; while their activation and production of immune molecules can induce ste ... Full text Link to item Cite

The immune system and developmental programming of brain and behavior.

Journal article Front Neuroendocrinol · August 2012 Featured Publication The brain, endocrine, and immune systems are inextricably linked. Immune molecules have a powerful impact on neuroendocrine function, including hormone-behavior interactions, during health as well as sickness. Similarly, alterations in hormones, such as du ... Full text Link to item Cite

Early-life experience decreases drug-induced reinstatement of morphine CPP in adulthood via microglial-specific epigenetic programming of anti-inflammatory IL-10 expression.

Journal article J Neurosci · December 7, 2011 Featured Publication A critical component of drug addiction research involves identifying novel biological mechanisms and environmental predictors of risk or resilience to drug addiction and associated relapse. Increasing evidence suggests microglia and astrocytes can profound ... Full text Link to item Cite

Microglia and memory: modulation by early-life infection.

Journal article J Neurosci · October 26, 2011 Featured Publication The proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) is critical for normal hippocampus (HP)-dependent cognition, whereas high levels can disrupt memory and are implicated in neurodegeneration. However, the cellular source of IL-1β during learning has not b ... Full text Link to item Cite

Enduring consequences of maternal obesity for brain inflammation and behavior of offspring.

Journal article FASEB J · June 2010 Featured Publication Obesity is well characterized as a systemic inflammatory condition, and is also associated with cognitive disruption, suggesting a link between the two. We assessed whether peripheral inflammation in maternal obesity may be transferred to the offspring bra ... Full text Link to item Cite