Amanda Kentner, PhD
Professor of Psychology
School
School of Arts and Sciences
Department
School of Arts and Sciences
Office Location
Matricaria 4005E
Boston
Office Phone Office Phone: 617.274.3360
Website Website:
About
Amanda (Mandy) Kentner, Ph.D., is a full professor at MCPHS. She teaches courses and directs a behavioral neuroscience-focused laboratory examining how exposure to infection during early development imparts long-term disruptions in social and cognitive functioning. Her laboratory is also interested in factors that offer protective or rehabilitative potential, like environmental enrichment, maternal care, and pharmacological agents. Dr. Kentner has received multiple MCPHS Excellence in Research Mentorship awards and was honored with the inaugural MCPHS Gail P. and Edward A. Bucher Trustees’ Award for Excellence in Student-Faculty Research Collaboration in 2018. Her laboratory is supported by an R15 AREA grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.
Education
- PhD, Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
- BA, Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
Research Interests
- Animal Models
- Early Life Adversity
- Environmental Enrichment
- Neuroendocrinology
- Maternal Care
- Sex Differences
- Rigor & Reproducibility
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Featured Affiliations
2022-present | Member, Board of Directors of the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (PNIRS)
Link2022-present | Member, Animal Research Committee of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP)
Link2021-present | Member, Membership Committee of the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (PNIRS)
LinkEducation
- PhD, Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
- BA, Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
Research Interests
- Animal Models
- Early Life Adversity
- Environmental Enrichment
- Neuroendocrinology
- Maternal Care
- Sex Differences
- Rigor & Reproducibility
- Behavioral Neuroscience
Publications
- DeRosa, H., Caradonna, S.G., Tran, H., Marrocco, J., Kentner, A.C. (2022). Got milk? Maternal immune activation during the mid-lactational period affects nutritional milk quality and adolescent offspring sensory processing in male and female rats. Molecular Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01744-y
- Butler-Struben, H.M., Kentner, A.C., Trainor, B.C. (2022). What's wrong with my experiment?: The impact of hidden variables on neuropsychopharmacology research.
Neuropsychopharmacology, 47, 1285-1291, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01309-1. - DeRosa, H., Caradonna, S.G., Tran, H., Marrocco, J., Kentner, A.C. (2022). Milking it for all it's worth: the effects of environmental enrichment on maternal nurturance, lactation quali offspring social behavior. eNeuro, 9(4)ENEURO.0148-22.2022, https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0148-22.2022.
- Zhao, X., Tran, H., DeRosa, H., Roderick, R.C., Kentner, A.C. (2021). Hidden Talents: Poly (I:C)- induced maternal immune activation improves mouse visual discrimination performance and reversal learning in a sex-dependent manner. Genes, Brain, and Behavior, 20, e12755, https://doi.org/10.1111/gbb.12755.
- Zhao, X., Mohammed, R., Tran, H., Erickson, M., Kentner AC. (2021). Poly (I:C)-induced maternal immune activation modifies ventral hippocampal regulation of stress reactivity: prevention by environmental enrichment. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 95, 203-215, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.03.018.
- Kentner, A.C., Speno, A.V., Doucette, J., Roderick, R.C. (2021). The contribution of environmental enrichment to phenotypic variation in mice and rats. eNeuro, 8(2):ENEURO.0539-20.2021, https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0539-20.2021.
- Núñez Estevez, K., Rondón-Ortiz, A., Nguyen, J., Kentner, A.C. (2020). Environmental influences on placental programming and offspring outcomes following maternal immune activation.
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 83, 44-55, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.08.192. - 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, 61, 350-375, https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21775.
Awards and Honors
- 2022 | Kentner, A.C. Targeted inhibition of stress associated pathways to promote resilience against maternal immune activation. National Institute of Mental Health 1R15MH114035-02, $383,006. March 1st 2022 to Feb 28th 2025, PI.
- 2022 | MCPHS University-Wide Faculty Scholarship Award “Discovery” - for Best Published Research Paper (Zhao et al., 2021 - Genes, Brain, and Behavior, 20, e12755).
- 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
More Affiliations
- 2021-present | Member, Membership Committee of the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (PNIRS)
- 2021-present | Fellow of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS)
- 2021-present | Member, Trainee Professional Development Awards Selection Committee for the Society for Neuroscience (SfN)
- 2020-present | Associate Member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP)
- 2018-2021 | USA Councilor of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS)
- 2019-2020 | Chair, Ethics & Diversity Committee of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS)
- 2017-present | Social Media Manager, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology (SBN)
- 2017-present | Councilor, Boston Area Neuroscience Chapter of Society for Neuroscience
- 2016-present | Editorial Board Member of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (BBI)