Sophie Debsprofile image

Sophie Debs


Current Appointments

PhD Canditate
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Sophie completed a Bachelor of Science in Cell Pathology (Honours Class I) and Psychology at The University of Sydney in 2017. She completed her honours project at The Vascular Immunology Unit, where she examined how inflammation and microvesicles derived from brain endothelial cells contribute to the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria. Sophie has since worked as a Research Assistant at The Garvan Institute of Medical Research and as a Scientist at The Australian Red Cross Blood Service within the NSW Transplantation and Immunogenetics Laboratory. In 2019, Sophie joined NeuRA as a PhD candidate in the Preclinical Schizophrenia Research Laboratory led by Dr. Tertia Purves-Tyson, and in 2022, she was awarded the NeuRA PhD Pearl Scholar Award. Sophie’s research investigates the relationships between neuroinflammation, stress and dopamine dysregulation in schizophrenia, and how estrogen-based therapies may impact these. A key aspect of Sophie’s PhD work involves investigating whether alterations in microglial cell function underlie some of the beneficial effects of estrogen-based therapies observed in people with schizophrenia. It is Sophie’s hope that this fundamental knowledge represents a step forward in discovering new treatment options for people with schizophrenia, thereby improving the quality of life for those affected by severe mental illness.


Publications

2024 Sep

Molecular evidence of altered stress responsivity related to neuroinflammation in the schizophrenia midbrain

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.07.004

2024 May

Maternal immune activation and estrogen receptor modulation induce sex-specific dopamine-related behavioural and molecular alterations in adult rat offspring

View full journal-article on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2024.02.034

2023, 01 Mar

Pain-resolving immune mechanisms in neuropathic pain

View full journal-article on http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41582-023-00777-3

2022 May

Disrupting circadian rhythms promotes cancer-induced inflammation in mice

View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2022.100428

2019 Feb

Interplay of extracellular vesicles and other players in cerebral malaria pathogenesis

View full journal-article on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagen.2018.10.012

2018 Jun

Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes: A Pathophysiological-Based Approach

View full journal-article on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tem.2018.03.014