Dr. Darragh Devine

About

Dr. Darragh Devine is a Professor and Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at the University of Florida, within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on the neurobiology of self-injurious behaviour, which is a debilitating characteristic observed in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, and Prader-Willi syndrome. His work aims to identify neuropathological variables underlying the shared vulnerability for self-injury across these disorders, emphasizing the role of dopaminergic insufficiency and stress-responsive phenotypes. Dr. Devine's research includes developing and refining animal models to study self-injury, investigating biochemical measures of neuronal sensitivity, and understanding the brain mechanisms involved in this pathology. He provides extensive training opportunities for students in his laboratory, where they learn state-of-the-art methods in behavioral analysis, neurochemistry, hormonal responses, and gene regulation, fostering critical thinking in behavioral and molecular neuroscience.

Research topics

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Clinical psychology
• Medicine
• Pathology

Selected publications

• Perfectionism, emotion regulation, and the cortisol stress response.

  Journal of Counseling Psychology · 2013-09-16 · 96 citations

  articleSenior author

  To provide counseling psychologists with a greater understanding of patterns of personality, stress, and emotion regulation, the present study examined perfectionists' typical emotion regulation patterns and physiological reactivity (salivary cortisol concentration) to a social-evaluative stress experience. An initially large sample (N = 421) completed measures of perfectionism, higher order personality factors, and emotion regulation. A subset of the larger sample (N = 61) completed the Trier S…

  PublisherDOI

• Sensory and Motor Characterization in the Postnatal Valproate Rat Model of Autism

  Developmental Neuroscience · 2012-01-01 · 68 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Although autism is diagnosed according to three core features of social deficits, communication impairments, and repetitive or stereotyped behaviors, other behavioral features such as sensory and motor impairments are present in more than 70% of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Exposure of rat pups to the teratogen valproate during sensitive periods of brain development has been shown to elicit behavioral features associated with autism diagnosis and has been proposed as a valid…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Repetitive Behaviors in the <scp>BTBR T+tf/J</scp> Mouse Model of Autism

  Autism Research · 2013-06-28 · 65 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Lower order and higher order repetitive behaviors have been documented in the BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR) mouse strain, a mouse model that exhibits all three core behavioral domains that define autism. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental enrichment for reducing repetitive behaviors in BTBR mice. Lower order behaviors were captured by assaying the time and sequence of grooming, while higher order behaviors were measured using pattern analysis of an object explorati…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Nociceptin/orphanin FQ and NOP receptor gene regulation after acute or repeated social defeat stress

  Neuropeptides · 2009-09-01 · 49 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Self-injurious behaviour in autistic children: a neuro-developmental theory of social and environmental isolation

  Psychopharmacology · 2013-09-20 · 29 citations

  review1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Stress-Modulating Actions of Orphanin FQ (N/OFQ)

  NSF · $276k · 2005–2009

• NIH Grant R03HD038239

  NIH · $135k · 2004

Frequent coauthors

• Jaime L. Tartar

  Nova Southeastern University

  9 shared

• Amber M. Muehlmann

  University of Florida

  7 shared

• Huda Akil

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  6 shared

• Ethan M. Balk

  Brown University

  6 shared

• Robert P. Yezierski

  University of Florida

  6 shared

• Charles J. Vierck

  Florida College

  6 shared

• Priscilla Chew

  Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital

  5 shared

• J. Lau

  Mayo Clinic Hospital

  5 shared

Labs

• Dr. Darragh Devine Lab GroupPI

Education

• Ph.D., Neuroscience

  University of Florida

  2005

• M.S., Neuroscience

  University of Florida

  2001

• B.A., Psychology

  University of Florida

  1998

Similar researchers at University of Florida

• Dr. Ryan Duffyh-27
• Dr. Darlene Kertesh-21
• Dr. Shari Schwartzh-14