Dr. Adam Brockett grew up in Potomac, MD and received his undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2011. Dr. Brockett received his PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from Princeton University in 2017 under the mentorship for Dr. Elizabeth Gould. He then pursued a 5-year NRSA funded Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Maryland, College Park with Dr. Matthew Roesch. Dr. Brockett is now an Assistant Research Professor in the Roesch Lab studying how frontal processes develop, and are altered by experiences such as exercise and drug use. Outside of the lab, Dr. Brockett enjoys teaching, running, playing soccer, and is an avid photographer.
The ultimate goal of my research is to explore how experiences, good or bad, help to shape who we are. As an Assistant Research Professor, my work uses a combination of behavioral, electrophysiological, pharmacological, and viral-mediated strategies to investigate how frontal processes, such as cognitive control, change across the lifespan, and whether potential interventions such as the introduction of exercise or the use of psychedelics can improve age-related declines in these abilities. My interest in the how experience shapes behavior began as a graduate student at Princeton University in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Gould. My dissertation work showed that exercise alters both neuronal and glial processes in frontal areas of the brain that support cognitive control. After receiving my PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience in 2017, I pursued an NRSA funded post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland, College Park under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew Roesch. Using a combination of behavioral, physiological, pharmacological, and ontogenetic techniques, my work in the Roesch Lab has helped dissociate the contributions of multiple frontal brain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to cognitive control. I also continue to work in collaboration with the Roesch Lab and Isaacs Lab in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to explore the potential of molecular container compounds to counteract the negative effects of drugs of abuse, including PCP, methamphetamine, and fentanyl, with an eye towards exploring whether these synthetic tools can be used to modulate the effects of psychedelic compounds, such as MDMA and psilocybin, as well.
