Denise Labelle, M.A.

E-mail: denise.labelle@temple.edu

Advisor: Lauren Alloy, Ph.D.

Bio: Denise is currently in her fourth year of graduate studies in clinical psychology, working with Dr. Lauren Alloy.  She received her B.A. in Neuroscience and Religious Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006, and her M.A. from Temple University in 2011.  Broadly, her research interests concern multidisciplinary investigation of affective psychopathology, particularly the integration of neurobiological, social, and cognitive risk factors for the onset and maintenance of mood disorders.  She is currently working on several projects investigating alterations in executive functioning in those with bipolar disorder and unipolar depression in Dr. Alloy's lab.  She is also collaborating with Dr. Joseph Tracy at Thomas Jefferson University, exploring changes in memory lateralization in temporal lobe epilepsy.  Denise has previous experience working with Dr. Loretta Flanagan-Cato at the University of Pennsylvania, where she did work on morphological changes to the dendritic arbor of neurons in the ventral medial nucleus of the hypothalamus in response to metabolic challenges.

Representative Publications:

LaBelle, D.R., Stange, J.P., Hamlet, E.J., Alloy L.B., & Abramson, L.Y. (2011).  The relationship between early childhood stress, executive functioning, and prospective life event frequency.  In preparation.

LaBelle, D.R., Goldstein, K.E., Shapero, B.G., Alloy, L.B. (2011). Profiles of executive functioning in early adolescents: An exploration of socioeconomic status. (under review)

LaBelle, D.R., Cox, J., Dunn-Meynell, D., Levin, B., & Flanagan-Cato, L. (2009).  Genetic and Dietary Effects on Dendrites in the Rat Hypothalamic Ventromedial Nucleus. Physiology and Behavior, 58, 511-516.

Flanagan-Cato, L.M., Fluharty, S.J., Weinreb, E.B., LaBelle, D.R. (2008) Food restriction alters neuronal morphology in the hypothalamic ventromedial neucleus of male rats. Endocrinology, 149, 93-99.