Lorraine V.J. Brando, Ph.D.
Toxoplasma; Inactivation; Immune response; Cysts; Animal models; Ingenuity pathway analysis; Mouse amygdale; Depression; Anxiety ...read more
Dr. Lorraine V. Jones-Brando is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
She is a microbiologist and researcher in the Johns Hopkins Stanley Neurovirology Laboratory. The laboratory aims to learn more about the roles of infection and immunity in the origins of serious psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Dr. Jones-Brando’s research revolves around the Stanley Neurovirology Laboratory’s working theory that an infectious agent plays a crucial role in the etiology of serious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
She uses classical microbiological, molecular biological and histochemical techniques to examine samples – including brain cells, cerebrospinal fluid, blood components, and throat cultures – to search for parasites, viral particles and macromolecules.
Dr. Jones-Brando also uses virus-host and parasite-host cell systems to study the effects of a variety of compounds – including antipsychotic and mood-stabilizing drugs, plant extracts, nutraceuticals and novel synthetic compound panels – on the in vitro replication and in vivo growth of infectious agents.
Kannan G, Prandovszky E, Steinfeldt CB, Gressitt KL, Yang C, Yolken RH, Severance EG, Jones-Brando L, Pletnikov MV. “One minute ultraviolet exposure inhibits Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoite replication and cyst conversion without diminishing host humoral-mediated immune response.” Exp Parasitol. 2014 Oct;145:110-7. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2014.08.001. Epub 2014 Aug 14.
Xiao J, Kannan G, Jones-Brando L, Brannock C, Krasnova IN, Cadel JL, Pletnikov M, Yolken RH. “Sex-specific changes in gene expression and behavior induced by chronic Toxoplasma infection in mice.” Neuroscience. 2012 Jan 3.