Dr. Joanne Weinberg is a Professor and Distinguished University Scholar in the Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences at UBC. She is a member of the Brain Research Center, and an Associate Member of the Department of Psychology and the Child and Family Research Institute. Dr. Weinberg has served as President of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology and the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Study Group, on the Board of Directors of the Research Society on Alcoholism, and on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Alcohol,  Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, Neurotoxicology and Teratology, and Physiology and Behavior. She is currently a member of the Advisory Panel of the Intervention Network Action Team, Canada Northwest FASD Research Network and is co-leader of the FASD Project of NeuroDevNet, Networks of Centers of Excellence. The research in Dr. Weinberg’s laboratory utilizes rat models to examine how early life experiences, in particular, prenatal alcohol exposure, alter brain and biological development from prenatal life through adulthood. Collaborative projects are investigating the role of changes in gene expression and epigenetic mechanisms in mediating the adverse effects of alcohol (Sheila Innis, Angela Devlin, Michael Kobor), and as well as the long-term consequences of early pain and early medication exposure on neurobehavioral development of pre-term and term-born infants (Ruth Grunau, Tim Oberlander). Dr. Weinberg’s research is supported by grants from NIH/NIAAA (MERIT Award), NIH/NIMH, CIHR, the Canadian Foundation on Fetal Alcohol Research and the Coast Capital Savings Depression Research Fund.

Publications

• Cortisol levels in relation to maternal interaction and child internalizing behavior in preterm and full-term children at 18 months corrected age

  • 2011 Developmental Psychobiology
  • Brummelte S. , Grunau R. E. , Zaidman-Zait A. , Weinberg J. , Nordstokke D. , Cepeda I. L.

• Focus on: Epigenetics and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

  • 2011 Alcohol Research & Health
  • Kobor M. S. , Weinberg J.

• Glucocorticoid receptors in the prefrontal cortex regulate stress-evoked dopamine efflux and aspects of executive function

  • 2011 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
  • Butts K. A. , Weinberg J. , Young A. H. , Phillips A. G.

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Gene-Environment Interactions, Predictive Biomarkers, and the Relationship Between Structural Alterations in the Brain and Functional Outcomes

  • 2011 Semin Pediatr Neurol
  • Reynolds J. N. , Weinberg J. , Clarren S. , Beaulieu C. , Rasmussen C. , Kobor M. S. , Dube M. P. , Goldowitz D.

• Cortisol levels in relation to maternal interaction and child internalizing behavior in preterm and full-term children at 18 months corrected age

  • 2011 Developmental Psychobiology
  • Brummelte S. , Grunau R. E. , Zaidman-Zait A. , Weinberg J. , Nordstokke D. , Cepeda I. L.

• An investigation of the effects of maternal separation and novelty on central mechanisms mediating pituitary-adrenal activity in infant guinea pigs (cavia porcellus)

  • 2010 Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Maken D. S. , Weinberg J. , Cool D. R. , Hennessy M. B.

• Circadian phase and sex effects on depressive/anxiety-like behaviors and HPA axis responses to acute stress

  • 2010 Physiology & Behavior
  • Verma P. , Hellemans K. C. , Choi F. Y. , Yu W. , Weinberg J.

• Cortisol, behavior, and heart rate reactivity to immunization pain at 4 months corrected age in infants born very preterm

  • 2010 Clinical Journal of Pain
  • Grunau R. E. , Tu M. T. , Whitfield M. F. , Oberlander T. F. , Weinberg J. , Yu W.

• From freud to a modern understanding of behavioral, physiological, and brain development

  • 2010 Developmental Psychobiology
  • Stern J. M. , Weinberg J. , Hennessy M. B.

• Physiological correlates of memory recall in infancy: Vagal tone, cortisol, and imitation in preterm and full-term infants at 6 months

  • 2010 Infant Behavior and Development
  • Haley D. W. , Grunau R. E. , Weinberg J. , Keidar A. , Oberlander T.

• Prenatal alcohol exposure alters biobehavioral reactivity to pain in newborns

  • 2010 Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
  • Oberlander T. F. , Jacobson S. W. , Weinberg J. , Grunau R. E. , Molteno C. D. , Jacobson J. L.

• Prenatal alcohol exposure: fetal programming and later life vulnerability to stress, depression and anxiety disorders

  • 2010 Neuroscience And Biobehavioral Reviews
  • Hellemans K. C. , Sliwowska J. H. , Verma P. , Weinberg J.

• Prenatal alcohol exposure reduces the proportion of newly produced neurons and glia in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus in female rats

  • 2010 Hormones and Behavior
  • Uban K. A. , Sliwowska J. H. , Lieblich S. , Ellis L. A. , Yu W. , Weinberg J.

• Sleep quality, cortisol levels, and behavioral regulation in toddlers

  • 2010 Developmental Psychobiology
  • Scher A. , Hall W. A. , Zaidman-Zait A. , Weinberg J.