Dr. Jason Snyder is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and a member of the Centre for Brain Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Our research aims to identify how hippocampal neurogenesis, across the lifespan, regulates in memory, decision-making and stress-related behaviours. We manipulate neurogenesis with transgenic animals and viral tools, in order to understand how they contribute to these behaviours. We use immunohistochemistry to quantify and characterize the neurogenesis process, and in vitro electrophysiology to understand the circuit mechanisms by which these new neurons regulate behaviour. The neurobiology of behaviour extends far beyond adult neurogenesis, however, and so we are also generally interested in how neurons throughout the dentate gyrus, hippocampus, and related structures interact to guide behaviour.

SNYDER LAB PUBS

Vyleta NP, Snyder JS (2021) Prolonged development of long-term potentiation at lateral entorhinal cortex synapses onto adult-born neurons. Plos One.

Seib DR, Espinueva DF, Princz-Lebel O, Chahley E, Stevenson J, O’Leary TP, Floresco SB, Snyder JS (2021) Hippocampal neurogenesis promotes preference for future rewards. Molecular Psychiatry.

Cole JD, Espinueva D, Seib DR, Cooke MB, Cahill SP, O’Leary TP, Kwan SS, Snyder JS (2020) Adult-born hippocampal neurons undergo extended development and are morphologically distinct from neonatally-born neurons. Journal of Neuroscience, 40: 5740-5756.

Seib DR, Espinueva DF, Floresco SB, Snyder JS (2020) A role for neurogenesis in probabilistic reward learning. Behavioral Neuroscience, 134: 283-95.

Snyder JS, Drew MR (2020) Functional Neurogenesis Over the Years. Behavioural Brain Research, 382: 112470.

Ciric T, Cahill SP, Snyder JS (2019) Dentate gyrus neurons that are born at the peak of development, but not before or after, die in adulthood. Brain and Behavior, 9, e01435.

Cooke MB, O’Leary TP, Harris P, Brown RE, Snyder JS (2019) Pathfinder: open source software for analyzing spatial navigation search strategies. F1000Research 2019, 8: 1521

Yu RQ, Cooke MB, Zhao J, Snyder JS (2019) Adult neurogenesis promotes efficient, nonspecific search strategies in a spatial alternation water maze task. Behavioural Brain Research, 376: 112151.

Cahill SP, Martinovic A, Cole JD, Snyder JS (2019) A combination of running and memantine increases neurogenesis and reduces activation of developmentally-born dentate granule neurons in rats. Behavioral Brain Research, 372: 112005.

Snyder JS (2019) Recalibrating the relevance of adult neurogenesis. Trends in Neurosciences, 42(3): 164-178.

Seib DR, Espinueva, D, Princz-Lebel O, Chahley E, Floresco SB, Snyder JS (2018) Hippocampal neurogenesis promotes preference for future rewards. bioRxiv preprint.

Cahill SP, Cole JD, Yu RQ, Clemans-Gibbon J, Snyder JS (2018) Differential effects of extended exercise and memantine treatment on adult neurogenesis in male and female rats. Neuroscience, 390: 241-255.

Seib DR, Chahley E, Princz-Lebel O, Snyder JS (2018) Intact memory for local and distal cues in male and female rats that lack adult neurogenesis. PLoS ONE, 13(5): e0197869.

Snyder JS (2018) Questioning human neurogenesis. Nature, 555: 315-6.

Todorova EV, Cahill SP, O’Leary TP, Snyder JS (2017) Stressful experiences differentially regulate immediate-early genes and stress hormones receptors in immature and mature dentate gyrus neurons. Matters Select 10.19185/matters.201710000009.

Cahill SP, Yu RQ, Green DC, Todorova EV, Snyder JS (2017) Early survival and delayed death of developmentally-born dentate gyrus neurons. Hippocampus, 27:1155-1167.

PRE-SNYDER LAB

Snyder JS, Cahill SP, Frankland PW (2017) Running promotes spatial bias independently of adult neurogenesis. Hippocampus, 8:871-882.

Snyder JS, Grigereit L, Russo A, Seib D, Brewer M, Pickel J, Cameron HA (2016) A transgenic rat for specifically inhibiting adult neurogenesis. eNeuro, DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0064-16.2016

Cummings D, Snyder JS, Brewer M, Cameron HA, Belluscio L. (2014) Adult neurogenesis is necessary to refine and maintain circuit specificity. Journal of Neuroscience, 34: 13801-10.

Snyder JS, Ferrante SF, Cameron HA (2012) Late Maturation of Adult-Born Neurons in the Temporal Dentate Gyrus. PLoS ONE, 7(11): e48757.

Snyder JS, Clifford MA, Jeurling SI, Cameron HA (2012) Complementary activation of hippocampal-cortical subregions and immature neurons following chronic training in single and multiple context versions of the water maze. Behav. Brain Res., 227: 330–9.

Snyder JS, Cameron HA (2012) Could adult hippocampal neurogenesis be relevant for human behavior?. Behav. Brain Res., 227: 384-90.

Snyder JS, Soumier A, Brewer M, Pickel J, Cameron HA (2011) Adult hippocampal neurogenesis buffers stress responses and depressive behaviour. Nature, 476: 458-61.

Snyder JS, Ramchand P, Rabbett S, Radik R, Wojtowicz JM, Cameron HA (2011) Septo-temporal gradients of neurogenesis and activity in 13-month-old rats. Neurobiol. Aging, 32(6):1149-56.

Snyder JS, Choe J, Clifford M, Jeurling S, Hurley P, Brown A, Kamhi J, Cameron HA (2009) Adult-born hippocampal neurons are more numerous, faster maturing and more involved in behavior in rats than in mice. [high res] J. Neurosci. 29: 14484-14495.

Snyder JS, Radik R, Wojtowicz JM, Cameron HA (2009) Anatomical gradients of adult neurogenesis and activity: Young neurons in the ventral dentate gyrus are activated by water maze training. Hippocampus 19: 360-370.

Snyder JS, Glover LR, Sanzone KM, Kamhi JF, Cameron HA (2009) The effects of exercise and stress on the survival and maturation of adult-generated granule cells. Hippocampus 19: 898-906.

Winocur G, Wojtowicz JM, Sekeres M, Snyder JS, Wang S (2006) Inhibition of neurogenesis interferes with hippocampus-dependent memory function. Hippocampus 16: 296-304.

Snyder JS, Hong NS, McDonald RJ, Wojtowicz JM (2005) A role for adult neurogenesis in long-term memory. Neuroscience 130: 843-852.

Snyder JS, Kee NJ, Wojtowicz JM (2001) Effects of adult neurogenesis on synaptic plasticity in the rat dentate gyrus. J. Neurophysiol. 85: 2423-2431.

OTHER DATA

Martinovic A, Ash A, Cahill SP, Snyder JS (2017) c-fos immunohistochemistry protocol. Figshare: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5229898.v1

Cahill SP, Yu RQ, Snyder JS (2014) Neurogenesis Happy Water does not increase dentate gyrus adult neurogenesis. Figshare: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1106970.v1

Snyder JS, Cameron HA (2013) Reduced adult neurogenesis alters behavioural and endocrine discriminative fear conditioning. Figshare: http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.884597

Snyder JS, Wojtowicz JM (2012) Correlations between different stages of neurogenesis emerge after learning. Figshare:http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.93067

Snyder JS, Grigereit L, Brewer M, Pickel J, Cameron HA (2011) A transgenic rat model for reducing neurogenesis. Figshare: http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.93088Nature Precedings: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2011.6592.1

Snyder JS, Sanzone K, Soumier A, Cameron HA (2011) Stress can increase or decrease anxiety depending on the timing of the stressor. Figshare: http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.89656

Google Scholar Citations

• Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award (2014)
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Award (2013)

Accepting students and postdocs starting in the Fall of 2022.