Tammy J. Sajdyk, MS, PhD

I am an Associate Research Professor of Pediatrics in the division of Hematology/Oncology. In June 1997 I received my PhD in Neurobiology from the department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at Indiana University. The first part of my career was focused in the area of neuroplasticity and emotional memory, particularly with regards to stress and anxiety. In 2016, I joined the department of Pediatrics and refocused my career on the plasticity of the peripheral nervous system and how it recovers following exposure to chemotherapeutic agents, especially vincristine.

• Sajdyk, T.J., Sors, T.G., Hunt, J.D., Murray, M.E., Deford, M.E., Shekhar, A., and Denne, S.C. (2015). “Project Development Teams: A novel mechanism for accelerating translational research.” J Acad Med 90(1):40-46.

• Denne SC, Sajdyk TJ, Sorkness CA, Drezner MK, and Shekhar A. Utilizing pilot funding and other incentives to stimulate interdisciplinary research.  In Translational Medicine-What, Why, and How: An International Perspective.  Editors: Barbara Alving, Kerong Dai and Samuel Chan. (Rutledge, 2013).

• Johnson, P.L., Sajdyk, T.J., Fitz, S.D., Hale, M.W., Lowry, C.A., Hay-Schmidt, A., and Shekhar, A. (2013). “Angiotensin II’s role in sodium lactate-induced panic-like responses in rats with repeated urocortin 1 injections into the basolateral amygdala: amygdalar angiotensin receptors and panic.” Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 44:248-256.

• Molosh, A.L., Sajdyk, T.J., Truitt, W.A., Zhu, W., Oxford, G.S. and Shekhar, A. (2013). “NPY Y1 receptors differentially modulate GABAA and NMDA receptors via divergent signal-transduction pathways to reduce excitability of amygdala neurons.” Neuropsychopharmacology 38(7):1352-1364.

• Leitermann, R.J., Sajdyk, T.J., and Urban, J.H. (2012). “ Cell-specific expression of calcineurin immunoreactivity within the rat basolateral amygdala complex and colocalization with the neuropeptide Y Y1 receptor.” J Chem Neuroanat 45(1-2):50-56.

• Ray, B., Gaskins, D.L., Sajdyk, T.J., Spence, J.P., Fitz, S.D., Shekhar, A., Lahiri, D.K. (2011). “Restraint stress and repeated CRF receptor activation in the amygdala both increase amyloid β precursor protein (APP) and amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide but have divergent effects on BDNF and pre-synaptic proteins in the prefrontal cortex of rats.” Neuroscience 184:139-150.

• Sajdyk, T.J., Johnson, P.L., Leitermann, R.J., Fitz, S.D., Dietrich, A., Morin, M., Gehlert, D.R., Urban, J.H., and Shekhar, A. (2008). “Neuropeptide Y (NPY)-mediated behavioral plasticity in the amygdala induces stress resilience.” J. Neurosci.  28:893-903.

• Sajdyk, T.J., Johnson, P.L., Fitz, S.D., and Shekhar, A. (2008) “Chronic inhibition of GABA synthesis in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis elicits anxiety-like behavior.” J. Psychopharm.  22(6):633-641.

• Chambers, R.A., Sajdyk, T.J., Conroy, S.K., LaFuze, J. E., Fitz, S.D., and Shekhar, A. (2007). “Neonatal Amygdala Lesions: Co-occurring Impact on Social/Fear-related Behavior and Cocaine Sensitization in Adult Rats.” Behav. Neurosci. 121(6): 1316 – 1327.

• Truitt, W.A., Sajdyk, T.J., Dietrich, A.D., Oberlin, B., McDougle, C.J., and Shekhar, A. (2007) “From anxiety to autism: spectrum of abnormal social behaviors modeled by progressive disruption of inhibitory neuronal function in the basolateral amygdala in Wistar rats.” Psychopharmacol. 19(1):107-118.