Dr. Romay-Tallon has started her PhD in 2005, after finishing her degree in Biology, with Dr Caruncho at the University of Santiago de Compostela, in the Department of Cell Biology. During her PhD, she has studied the neurobiology of an animal model for psychiatric disorders, the heterozygous reeler mice (HRM). This animal model presents a downregulation in the expression of the protein reelin, which is known to be involved in synaptogenesis, promote neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity. Reelin is also downregulated in cortical areas (prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, cingulated cortex) in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. In 2008, she has participated in a collaboration with Dr Kalynchuk from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada). Dr Kalynchuk has developed a very well validated animal model for depression based in the chronic administration of corticosterone (CORT) to rodents. They have found that under that stressful event the levels of expression of reelin are downregulated. The working hypothesis was to analyze the neurobiology and also the behavior of the HRM when they are subjected to the administration of high dosage of corticosterone for 21 days.

Currently Dr. Romay-Tallon has joined Dr Grayson’s laboratory at the University of Illinois Chicago to continue her studies in mental health and more particularly psychiatric disorders in a preclinical model based on effects of prenatal stress on the development of central nervous system.