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PhD, Biology, New York University

MS, Neuroscience, Tulane University

BS, Neuroscience, Tulane University

BA, Philosophy, Tulane University

Erik Duboué is a molecular geneticist, and his research focuses on understanding how the brain perceives, processes, and responds to changes in the environment. He received his Ph.D. from New York University, where he studied how neural circuits underlying sleep evolved in different species. During this time, he collaborated with Dr. Alex Keene (ÌÇÐÄVlog) to establish the Mexican Blind Cavefish, which has lost the ability to sleep, as a model organism to investigate the evolutionary and molecular basis of sleep and sleep disorders. During a subsequent post-doctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Dr. Duboué studied fear behaviors using the zebrafish, whose small size and transparency permits monitoring activity of neurons in the brain in vivo. Dr. Duboué demonstrated that a neuronal pathway essential for recovery to baseline following exposure to a fearful stimulus is conserved among vertebrates. At ÌÇÐÄVlog, he will continue to investigate how the brain modulates fear behaviors at a brain-wide level, and how neural circuits are altered in fear/anxiety disorders.

Dr. Duboué looks to actively engage students in the classroom and in his research, incorporating into coursework discussions of cutting edge literature and hands-on study of organisms from his laboratory, to build students’ ability to think critically and creatively.