Alexandra Hertz

I started my PhD at King’s College London University in February 2019 after a BSc in Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience from McGill University and a MSc in Neuroscience from the University of Strasbourg (Joint program between the universities of Strasbourg, Freiburg and Basel). I aim to identify the neurobiological underpinnings of irritability and aggression in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and in psychopathy, with a focus on the rewarding and aversive components of aggression. I will explore these processes in a) mouse models and b) individuals with ASD and individuals with psychopathy using functional MRI investigations of frustration within reward learning tasks.  

Research Interests

• Neurobiology of Aggression in Neurodevelopment Disorders 
• Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy 
• Autism 
• Mouse models of Neurodevelopmental Disorders 
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging 
• Reward 

Research Groups

Member of the FANS department and Dr. M. Petrinovic’s Laboratory 

Publications

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00394-021-02613-0

The endocannabinoid system is modulated in reward and homeostatic brain regions following diet-induced obesity in rats: a cluster analysis approach

Romain Bourdy, Alexandra Hertz, Dominique Filliol, Virginie Andry, Yannick Goumon, Jorge Mendoza, Mary C. Olmstead & Katia Befort