Ryan W. Logan, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, Psychiatry

Phone

412-383-3084

E-mail

rwl16@pitt.edu

Education & Training

PhD, University of Maine (2009)

Campus Address

450 Technology Drive, Office 224

One-Line Research Description

Circadian rhythms of psychiatric disorders

Our laboratory investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying mood and addiction disorders with a particular focus on the role of the circadian rhythms and the immune system. Basic and clinical research indicates extensive bidirectional relationships between circadian rhythms and psychiatric disorders, whereby disruptions to the circadian system, either via environmental or genetic perturbations, may promote the vulnerability and risk to develop psychiatric disorders, such as depression or addiction, whereas chronic stress or chronic drug use disrupts circadian rhythms. These circadian disruptions seem to persist and likely contribute to the progression of the disorder, including substance use relapse. Although these relationships are intriguing, very little is known about the etiology or therapeutic potential of targeting circadian rhythms. We are especially focused on cell-type specific transcriptional mechanisms of circadian and immune signaling in cortico-striato-thalamic neural circuitry. The laboratory complements behavioral analyses using anxiety and depression-related behavioral assays, operant conditioning, and drug self-administration approaches in mice with molecular approaches, such as RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. Our primary goals are to understand the basic mechanisms of behavior while informing avenues for potential treatment strategies and pharmaceutical development.

 

Representative Publications

Seney ML, Cahill K, Enwright JF 3rd, Logan RW, Huo Z, Zong W, Tseng G, McClung CA. Diurnal rhythms in gene expression in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. Nat Commun. 2019 Aug 9;10(1):3355. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11335-1. PubMed PMID: 31399567; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6689017.

 

Logan RW, McClung CA. Rhythms of life: circadian disruption and brain disorders across the lifespan. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2019 Jan;20(1):49-65. doi: 10.1038/s41583-018-0088-y. Review. PubMed PMID: 30459365; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6338075.

 

Capri KM, Maroni MJ, Deane HV, Concepcion HA, DeCourcey H, Logan RW, Seggio JA. Male C57BL6/N and C57BL6/J Mice Respond Differently to Constant Light and Running-Wheel Access. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2019 Dec;10:13: 268.  doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00268. PMID 31920578.

 

Barko K, Paden W, Cahill KM, Seney ML, Logan RW. Sex-Specific Effects of Stress on Mood-Related Gene Expression. Mol Neuropsychiatry. 2019 Jun;5(3):162-175. doi: 10.1159/000499105. Epub 2019 Apr 30. PubMed PMID: 31312637; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6597924.

 

Logan RW, Hasler BP, Forbes EE, Franzen PL, Torregrossa MM, Huang YH, Buysse DJ, Clark DB, McClung CA. Impact of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms on Addiction Vulnerability in Adolescents. Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Jun 15;83(12):987-996. PMID: 29373120.

 

Logan RW, Parekh PK, Kaplan GN, Becker-Krail DD, Williams WP 3rd, Yamaguchi S, Yoshino J, Shelton MA, Zhu X, Zhang H, Waplinger S, Fitzgerald E, Oliver-Smith J, Sundarvelu P, Enwright JF 3rd, Huang YH, McClung CA. NAD+ cellular redox and SIRT1 regulate the diurnal rhythms of tyrosine hydroxylase and conditioned cocaine reward. Mol Psychiatry. 2018 May 4; PMID: 29728703.

 

Logan RW, Edgar N, Gillman AG, Hoffman D, Zhu X, McClung CA. Chronic Stress Induces Brain Region-Specific Alterations of Molecular Rhythms that Correlate with Depression-like Behavior in Mice. Biol Psychiatry. 2015 Aug 15;78(4):249-58. PMID: 25771506.

 

Freyberg ZZ, Logan RW. The intertwined roles of circadian rhythms and neuronal metabolism fueling drug reward and addiction. Current Opinion in Physiology. In Press.

 

Chen CY, Logan RW, Ma T, Lewis DA, Tseng GC, Sibille E, McClung CA. Effects of aging on circadian patterns of gene expression in the human prefrontal cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Jan 5;113(1):206-11. PMID: 26699485.