Michelle Antoine
Michelle Antoine in 2021
NationalityTrinidadian
Alma materAlbert Einstein College of Medicine
Spelman College
Scientific career
InstitutionsNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Michelle Antoine is a Trinidadian neuroscientist. She is acting chief of the section on neural circuits in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).[1] Her research has redefined the classical notion of excitatory-inhibitory balance and its role in autism.[2] She continues to study the synaptic and circuit pathways that contribute to nervous system disorders, autism spectrum disorder in particular.[3]

Background and education

Michelle Antoine was born in Trinidad and Tobago, where she went to the all-female Bishop Anstey High School.[4] After graduation from high school, she attended Spelman College where she received a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology and Mathematics. Following her graduation from Spelman College, Antoine went on to attend graduate school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.[4]

Antoine completed her postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley, in Daniel Feldman’s laboratory, where she was a Miller Research Fellow and a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow.[5]

Career and research

Antoine wrote her dissertation about a causative link between inner ear defects and long-term striatal dysfunction.[5] At Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Antoine noticed unusual hyper activity in mice. Antoine later found that inner ear dysfunction in mice has a direct causal relationship with neurological changes that increase hyperactivity. With these findings, Antoine provided two brain proteins as potential intervention targets for behavioral abnormalities. These proteins include pERK (phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase) and pCREB (phospho-cAMP response-element binding protein).[6]

As a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow, Antoine worked with Daniel Feldman's team to analyze four mouse models in relation to the 'signaling imbalance theory', which is a well known hypothesis about the origin of autism in the brain. This theory states that the brains of autistic people have an excess of excitatory brain activity, but not enough inhibitory signals to counterbalance. As a result, the neurons in brains of autistic people fire at a higher rate than normal, which leads to further motor disabilities, sensory issues, and additional autism traits. The team negated the original hypothesis of this theory, and instead proved that this imbalance is a compensatory effect, as opposed to the origin of autism. They found that the difference in the signals in the autism brains is of a type that stabilizes neurons’ firing rates rather than increasing them, which is suggestive of a compensatory response.[7][8]

Antoine currently works at the NIAAA, where her lab studies normal brains versus diseased brains and brain circuit function from the lens of developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Michelle Antoine, PhD | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)". www.niaaa.nih.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  2. ↑ Antoine, Michelle W.; Langberg, Tomer; Schnepel, Philipp; Feldman, Daniel E. (2019-02-20). "Increased Excitation-Inhibition Ratio Stabilizes Synapse and Circuit Excitability in Four Autism Mouse Models". Neuron. 101 (4): 648–661.e4. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2018.12.026. ISSN 1097-4199. PMC 6733271. PMID 30679017.
  3. ↑ "Michelle ANTOINE | University of California, Berkeley, CA | UCB | Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  4. 1 2 "Episode 12: Michelle Antoine, PhD". Conjugate: Illustration and Science Blog. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  5. 1 2 "Michelle W. Antoine | PPFP". ppfp.ucop.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  6. ↑ "Inner-ear disorders may cause hyperactivity". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  7. ↑ "Study Reveals 'Inhibition' Theory of Autism is Wrong". Neuroscience News. 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  8. ↑ "Four sets of mice call popular autism theory into question". Spectrum | Autism Research News. 2019-02-25. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  9. ↑ Bozelos, Panos. "World Wide ✈️ Neuroscience". www.world-wide.org. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
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