Michela Gallagher

About

Michela Gallagher is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. Her research program is broadly based in the area of systems neuroscience, utilizing animal models such as rats and mice, as well as studies in humans. A special emphasis of her work is neurocognitive aging. She studies the neurobiological basis for the differing outcomes observed at older ages, including cognitive impairment and well-preserved cognitive function, sometimes referred to as 'successful aging.' Gallagher leads a diverse team of researchers investigating these neurobiological mechanisms across species and directs studies aimed at testing treatments in animals and conducting clinical trials in humans to improve memory function in older adults suffering from memory problems, such as patients with mild cognitive impairment at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Her basic research has been supported for over 20 years by the National Institute on Aging, and her clinical research in humans is currently supported by a Grand Opportunity Award under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Additionally, she heads the Neurogenetics and Behavior Center at Johns Hopkins University, an innovative resource dedicated to studying mice with targeted genetic manipulations at high levels of cognitive and affective function.

Research topics

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Biology
• Internal medicine
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Spatial learning in male and female Long-Evans rats.

  Behavioral Neuroscience · 2021-02-01 · 114 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Male and female Long-Evans rats were tested in the Morris water maze at 6 months of age. A place training procedure, in which rats learned the position of a camouflaged platform, was followed by cue training, in which rats escaped to a visible platform. No sex difference was found in place learning ability. Search accuracy on probe trials, when the platform was unavailable, was also equivalent for the male and female groups. These results contrast with previous studies of rodents at younger ages…

  PublisherDOI

• Heterogeneity of Age-Related Neural Hyperactivity along the CA3 Transverse Axis

  Journal of Neuroscience · 2020-11-30 · 33 citations

  articleOpen access

  Age-related memory deficits are correlated with neural hyperactivity in the CA3 region of the hippocampus. Abnormal CA3 hyperactivity in aged rats has been proposed to contribute to an imbalance between pattern separation and pattern completion, resulting in overly rigid representations. Recent evidence of functional heterogeneity along the CA3 transverse axis suggests that proximal CA3 supports pattern separation while distal CA3 supports pattern completion. It is not known whether age-related…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Lateral entorhinal cortex dysfunction in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

  Neurobiology of Aging · 2021-12-30 · 29 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The HOPE4MCI study: A randomized double‐blind assessment of AGB101 for the treatment of MCI due to AD

  Alzheimer s & Dementia Translational Research & Clinical Interventions · 2024-01-01 · 27 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: In addition to the accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the presence of excess neural activity is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and a prognostic indicator for progression of AD pathology and clinical/cognitive worsening in mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI due to AD). The HOPE4MCI clinical study tested the efficacy of a therapeutic with demonstrated ability to normalize heightened neural activity in the hippocamp…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Loss of functional heterogeneity along the CA3 transverse axis in aging

  Current Biology · 2022-05-20 · 17 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• PHASE II/III trial for Slowing Progression in Mild Cognitive Impairment

  NIH · $7.6M · 2015–2023

• GABA-A alpha-5 agonists for the treatment of amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

  NIH · $2.3M · 2012–2016

• NIH Grant K02MH000406

  NIH · $386k · 1992

Frequent coauthors

• Peter C. Holland

  Johns Hopkins University

  63 shared

• Arnold B. Bakker

  University of Johannesburg

  32 shared

• James Knierim

  Johns Hopkins University

  31 shared

• Ming Teng Koh

  Johns Hopkins University

  25 shared

• Jung‐Soo Han

  Shandong Agricultural University

  23 shared

• Peter R. Rapp

  National Institute on Aging

  22 shared

• Rebecca P. Haberman

  Hinge Health

  21 shared

• Caroline L. Speck

  Johns Hopkins University

  21 shared

Awards & honors

• Grand Opportunity Award, a stimulus-funded research grant un…

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