Skip to main content
Millie Rincón-Cortés

Millie Rincón-Cortés

Assistant Professor - Department of Neuroscience

Research Interests: Normative and adversity-induced plasticity of reward and mesolimbic dopamine function, emphasis on early development and the postpartum period

 
972-883-2356
BSB 10.534
Developmental and Maternal Neurobiology Lab
Google Scholar
Curriculum Vitae
ORCID

Not currently accepting undergraduate students

Tags:

Professional Preparation

Postdoc (Grace Lab) - Dopamine neurophysiology
University of Pittsburgh - 2020
PhD - Neuroscience and Physiology
New York University Medical Center - 2015
BS - Biology
University of Puerto Rico- Mayaguez (RUM) - 2009

Research Areas

Animal models of psychiatric disorders
Neurophysiology
Stress/Adversity
Development
Dopamine
Social Behavior
Maternal mental illness

Publications

Sex- and reward-dependent effects of early life scarcity-adversity on adolescent behavioral responses to natural rewards 2025 - Journal Article
Postpartum scarcity-adversity increases adverse caregiving in the absence of basal corticosterone elevation 2025 - Journal Article
Female rats exposed to early life scarcity-adversity are resilient to later life changes in maternal behavior 2025 - Journal Article
Mothering matters: Towards a better understanding of disrupted infant-caregiver relationships in both mother and offspring 2025 - Journal Article
Sex-dependent effects of early life sensory overstimulation on later life behavioral function in rats 2024 - Journal Article
Effects of sensory overstimulation in postpartum rats 2024 - Journal Article
Behavioral responses to natural rewards in developing male and female rats 2024 - Journal Article
Effects of Early Life Scarcity‐Adversity on Maturational Milestones in Male and Female Rats 2024 - Journal Article

Awards

Early Faculty Travel Award - International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) [2024]
K01 Mentored Career Development Award - National Insitute of Mental Health [2022]
Early Career Achievement Award - International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) [2020]
Rafaelsen Young Investigator Award - International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP) [2020]
Postdoctoral Fellow - Ford Foundation [2020]
NRSA F32 Postdoctoral Fellow - National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) [2016]
Dissertation Award - International Society for Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP) [2015]
Sackler Dissertation Prize - New York University School of Medicine [2015]
Graduate Research Fellow - National Science Foundation (NSF) [2011]

Appointments

Assistant Professor
Department of Neuroscience, School of Behavioral Brain Sciences at UTD [2022–Present]

Projects

Normative and adversity-induced changes in reward-related and mesolimbic dopamine function
How does becoming a mother change reward-related brain function? How do these normative changes interact with postpartum adversity?
Dopaminergic mechanisms underlying intergenerational transmission of maternal behavior
How do early life experiences with a caregiver program later life maternal behavior?
Ontogeny of reward-related brain and behavioral responses: modulation by sex and stress
How does developmental stress exposure alter brain development and reward-related responses?

Funding

R03: Impact of early life adversity on caregiving behaviors and reward-related brain function: testing a mechanistic role for corticosterone
- NICHD [2023/04–2025/03]
K01: Environmental modulation of maternal behavior and mesolimbic DA function
- NIMH [2022/05–2026/04]
Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [2020/06–2021/06]
F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship
- National Institute of Mental Health [2016/09–2018/06]
T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship
- National Institute for Mental Health [2015/06–2016/08]