
Cheryl Brandenburg, M.S.
Senior Research Assistant
& Laboratory Coordinator
Autism Neurocircuitry Laboratory
Program in Neuroscience
801 W. Baltimore Street
Suite 301
Baltimore, MD 21201
443.860.2580 ext730
cbrandenburg@hussmanautism.org
2016-present: Ph.D. student, Program in Neuroscience, University of Maryland- Baltimore
2016- present: Senior Research Assistant & Laboratory Coordinator, Hussman Institute for Autism
2014-2016: Senior Research Assistant, Program in Neuroscience, Hussman Institute for Autism
2013-2014: Junior Scientist, University of Minnesota Imaging Center, Minneapolis, MN
2013: Mental Health Practitioner, Holland Center, Minneapolis, MN
2013: M.S. Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL)
2011-2013: Biology Laboratory Instructor, UWL
2010-2011: Research Assistant, UWL
2007-2013: In-home therapist for autistic children, Reaching Your Potential, LLC, La Crosse, WI
2010: B.S. Biomedical Science, UWL
Within the Autism Neurocircuitry Laboratory, my goal is to understand the role classical motor structures such as the basal ganglia and cerebellum play in the motor and cognitive features of autism. Alterations found within human postmortem tissue will be used to guide studies in animal models. I will use a combination of immunohistochemistry, molecular biology, RNA sequencing and electrophysiology to study how cell-adhesion molecules and the extracellular matrix contribute to altered physiology within these circuits.
My thesis work showed decreased gastrointestinal motility in hibernating thirteen-lined ground squirrels compared to summer active and winter torpid squirrels. We aimed to characterize the enteric nervous system in these squirrels by studying changes in expression of various neurotransmitters.
As a research assistant, I participated in a project that studied CRF, a stress factor, in rats.
Subramanian K, Brandenburg C, Orsati F, Soghomonian JJ, Hussman JP, Blatt GJ. 2017. Basal ganglia and autism – a translational perspective. Autism Research. Nov;10(11):1751-17775. doi: 10.1002/aur.1837.Epub 2017 Jul 21. Review.PMID:28730641