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Keaton Unroe

Instructor
  • Ph.D. in Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, Virginia Tech. 
Keaton Unroe
210 Drillfield Drive, Sandy Hall 304
Blacksburg, VA 24061
kunroe@vt.edu
(540) 231-0403

I began my academic adventure at Longwood University, where I studied biology, chemistry, and, very influentially, neuroscience studies. At Longwood, I started doing behavioral neuroscience research, where I was interested in the neurobiology of behavior, particularly the environmental factors that influence maternal care. In addition to my undergraduate research, I also became interested in developmental biology and its influence on behavior throughout life. After Longwood, I came to Virginia Tech for my graduate work, where I researched the influence of serotonin in the developing brain on emotional and social behavior. In addition to my graduate research, I was also interested in beginning my teaching career. During my time in graduate school, I gained teaching experience in courses such as Introduction to Neuroscience II Laboratory (NEUR 2036) and Cognitive Neuroscience (NEUR 3084). My goal as a neuroscience educator is to excite my students to understand more about the brain; to allow opportunities for students to draw from their own experiences to relate with their neuroscience coursework; and to find, understand, and discuss scientific literature.

  • Emotional and social behavior
  • Mood disorders
  • Neurodevelopment
  1. Unroe KA, Maltman JL, Shupe EA, Clinton SM. Disrupted serotonin system development by early-life antidepressant exposure impairs maternal care in adult female offspring. Developmental Psychobiology, 2022. [PMID: 35748633]
  2. Glover ME, Unroe KA, Moughnyeh MM, McCoy CR, Kerman IA, Clinton SM. Structural and metabolic activity differences in serotonergic cell groups in a rat model of individual differences of emotionality and stress reactivity. Neuroscience Letters, 2022. [PMID: 35753615]
  3. Unroe KA, Glover ME, Shupe EA, Feng N, Clinton SM. Perinatal SSRI exposure disrupts G protein-coupled receptor BAI3 in developing dentate gyrus and leads to passive stress coping and anhedonia in adult offspring: relevance to psychiatric disorders. Neuroscience, 2021. [PMID: 34293414]
  4. Clinton SM, Shupe EA, Glover ME, Unroe KA, McCoy CR, Cohen JL, Kerman IA. Modelling heritability of temperamental differences, stress reactivity, and risk for anxiety and depression: Relevance to Research Domian Criteria (RDoc). European Journal of Neuroscience, 2021. [PMID: 33629390]
  5. Clinton SM, Unroe KA, Shupe EA, McCoy CR, Glover ME. Resilience to stress:  Lessons from rodents about nature versus nurture. The Neuroscientist, 2020. [PMID: 33567987]
  6. Shupe EA, Glover ME, Unroe KA, Kerman IA, Clinton SM. Inborn differences in emotional behavior coincide with alterations in hypothalamic paraventricular motor projections. European Journal of Neuroscience, 2020. [PMID: 33249622]
  7. Widman AJ, Cohen JL, McCoy CR, Unroe KA, Glover ME, Khana AU, Bredemann T, McMahon LL, Clinton SM. Rats bred for high anxiety exhibit distinct fear-related coping behavior, hippocampal physiology, and synaptic plasticity-related gene expression. Hippocampus, 2019. [PMID: 30994250]
  8. Glover ME, McCoy CR, Shupe EA, Unroe KA, Jackson NL, Clinton SM. Perinatal exposure to the SSRI paroxetine alters the methylome landscape of the developing dentate gyrus. European Journal of Neuroscience, 2018. [PMID: 30585666]