Amanda Kentner, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology
Department: School of Arts and Sciences
Office: MAT4005E
Contact: amanda.kentner@mcphs.edu
(P)617.274.3360
Schools
School of Arts and Sciences
Programs
Health Psychology (BS)
Premedical & Health Studies (BS)
Education
PhD, Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
BA, Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
Research Interests
Animal Models
Early life adversity
Environmental Enrichment
Neuroendocrinology
Peer-Reviewed Articles & Book Chapters
Strzelewicz A.R,, Sanchez E.O., Rondón-Ortiz A.N., Raneri A., Famularo S.T., Bangasser D.A., Kentner A.C. (2019). Access to a high resource environment protects against accelerated maturation following early life stress: A translational animal model of high, medium and low security settings. Hormones and Behavior, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.01.003
Kentner, A.C., Bilbo, S.D., Brown, A.S., Hsiao, E.Y., McAllister, A.K., Meyer, U., Pearce, B.D., Pletnikov, M.V., Yolken, R.H., Bauman, M.D. (2019). Maternal immune activation: reporting guidelines to improve the rigor, reproducibility, and transparency of the model. Neuropsychopharmacology, 44, 245-258, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-018-0185-7.
Kentner, A.C., Scalia, S., Shin, J., Migliore, M.M., Rondon-Ortiz, A.N. (2018). Targeted sensory enrichment interventions protect against behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of early life stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 98, 74-85, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.07.029.
Kentner, A.C., Cryan, J.F., Brummelte, S. (2018). Resilience priming: translational models for understanding resiliency and adaptation to early-life adversity. Developmental Psychobiology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21775.
Kentner, A.C., Lima, E., Migliore, M.M., Shin, J., Scalia, S. (2018). Complex environmental rearing enhances social salience and affects hippocampal corticotropin releasing hormone receptor expression in a sex specific manner. Neuroscience, 369, 399-411, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.11.035.
Yan, S., Kentner, A.C., (2017). Mechanical allodynia corresponds to Oprm1 downregulation within the descending pain network of male and female rats exposed to neonatal immune challenge. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 63, 148-159, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.10.007.
Kentner, A.C., Khoury, A., Lima Queiroz, E., MacRae, M. (2016). Environmental enrichment rescues the effects of early life inflammation on markers of synaptic plasticity. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 57, 151-160, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.03.013.
Connors, E.J., Migliore, M.M., Pillsbury, S.L., Shaik, A.N., Kentner, A.C. (2015). Environmental enrichment models a naturalistic form of maternal separation and shapes the anxiety response patterns of offspring. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 52, 153-167, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.10.021.
Connors, E.J., Shaik, N.A., Migliore, M.M., Kentner, A.C. (2014). Environmental enrichment mitigates the sex-specific effects of gestational inflammation on social engagement and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis-feedback system. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 42, 178-190, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2014.06.020.
PubMed Profile
Honors
2018 | Kentner, A.C. The protective role of environmental enrichment on placental mediators of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis dysfunction in a prenatal inflammatory rat model. National Institute of Mental Health 1R15MH114035-01A1, $377,550. June 1st 2018 to May 31st 2021, PI.
2018 | Gail P. and Edward A. Bucher Trustees’ Award for Excellence in Student-Faculty Research Collaboration
2017 | MCPHS University-Wide Faculty Scholarship Award “Discovery” - for Best Published Research Paper (Kentner et al 2016 - Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 57, 151-160).
2016 | Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Faculty Mentor Award
2014 | Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Faculty Mentor Award
2013 | Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Faculty Mentor Award
Current Professional Memberships, Service & Leadership
2018-present | USA Councillor of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society
2017-present | Social Media Manager, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
2017-present | Councillor, Boston Area Neuroscience Chapter of Society for Neuroscience
2016-present | Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Editorial Board Member