Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Kate Webb, PhD

Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences @dukepsychiatry.bsky.social · 6d

Congrats to Duke Psychiatry's Dr. Kate Webb on her new #ClimateChange & #GlobalMentalHealth award to support her collaborative work in S. Africa on how air pollution affects inflammatory & gut microbiome biomarkers & mental health outcomes, funded by Duke Global Health Institute. 🌟
Kate Webb, PhD

1 2 5

Kate Webb, PhD @brainstorm12.bsky.social · 24d

Looking forward to sharing new findings and catching up with some of my favorite folks in Baltimore! @istss.bsky.social

1

Kate Webb, PhD @brainstorm12.bsky.social · Aug 7

Delighted that our project establishing a collaborative platform for research on environmental factors (exposome) and mental health outcomes in South Africa has received a @ibroorg.bsky.social and @wellcometrust.bsky.social #NeuroscienceCapacityAcceleratorForMentalHealth award!

International Brain Research Organization @ibroorg.bsky.social · Aug 7

After a competitive selection process, we are thrilled to announce the 2025 IBRO-Wellcome Neuroscience Capacity Accelerator for Mental Health grantees!

Congratulations to all awardees 🎉 Discover the selected projects here:
ibro.org/grant/neuros...

@wellcometrust.bsky.social #MentalHealth #NCAMH

1

Reposted by Kate Webb, PhD

International Brain Research Organization @ibroorg.bsky.social · Aug 7

After a competitive selection process, we are thrilled to announce the 2025 IBRO-Wellcome Neuroscience Capacity Accelerator for Mental Health grantees!

Congratulations to all awardees 🎉 Discover the selected projects here:
ibro.org/grant/neuros...

@wellcometrust.bsky.social #MentalHealth #NCAMH

2 3

Reposted by Kate Webb, PhD

NPP-Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience @dpn-journal.bsky.social · Jul 18

Let's start the weekend with another episode of the DPN Deep Dive!

This one summarizes work by @nateurneuro.bsky.social & @brainstorm12.bsky.social‬ et al showing that trauma exposure may disrupt more basic visual processing which may contribute to PTSD symptom development

youtu.be/GiKJl3YDZv0...

Traumatic stress alters neural reactivity to visual stimulation

This study investigated if exposure to traumatic stress altered brain activity to basic visual stimulation. The authors found that recent trauma survivors showed altered activity within the visual cortex compared to controls. Further, visual cortex reactivity was associated with PTSD symptoms. These

youtu.be

1 1 4

Kate Webb, PhD @brainstorm12.bsky.social · May 13

Federal funding plays a critical role in supporting life-saving research. In the recent APA Div56 newsletter, we outline how Trump policies place trauma research at risk and emphasize the importance of collective action.

apatraumadivision.org/spring-2025-...

3 5

Reposted by Kate Webb, PhD

Nate @nateurneuro.bsky.social · Apr 21

Harvard has launched their lawsuit. It’s a good one.

www.harvard.edu/research-fun...

www.harvard.edu

3 6

Reposted by Kate Webb, PhD

Nate @nateurneuro.bsky.social · Mar 20

In exciting news (for me), we demonstrate a structural covariance network of early visual cortex previously identified in recent trauma survivors is associated with PTSD symptoms in a mega-analysis of the ENIGMA-PTSD dataset.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Structural covariance of early visual cortex is negatively associated with PTSD symptoms: A Mega-Analysis from the ENIGMA PTSD workgroup.

Background: Identifying robust neural signatures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms is important to facilitate precision psychiatry and help in understanding and treatment of the disorde...

www.medrxiv.org

2 7

Kate Webb, PhD @brainstorm12.bsky.social · Feb 20

New preprint with @nateurneuro.bsky.social and the AURORA study team. We find that residential segregation is associated with alterations in hippocampal microstructure and threat reactivity through increased exposure to PM2.5 and NO2. Public health 🤝 neuroscience. medrxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Associations between residential segregation, ambient air pollution, and hippocampal features in recent trauma survivors

Background: Residential segregation is associated with differential exposure to air pollution. Hippocampus structure and function are highly susceptible to pollutants and associated with posttraumatic...

medrxiv.org

1 3

Reposted by Kate Webb, PhD

Nate @nateurneuro.bsky.social · Feb 10

Trying to preprint more, starting with some of our work looking at reactivity to visual stimulation in recent trauma survivors. Findings suggest trauma exposure may induce acute changes to non-affective stimulation. w/ @irosso.bsky.social & @brainstorm12.bsky.social

doi.org/10.21203/rs....

Traumatic stress alters neural reactivity to visual stimulation

Traumatic stress is a precursor to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Emergent research suggests visual processing regions may be relevant to PTSD development; however, no previo...

doi.org

7 8

Kate Webb, PhD @brainstorm12.bsky.social · Nov 25

And shoutout to BBC Africa for the photo summary on IG!

www.instagram.com/bbcafrica/p/...

BBC News Africa on Instagram: "Tanzania-based non-profit APOPO has already trained giant rats to sniff out landmines, victims of natural disasters and medical diseases like tuberculosis. Now, they a...

1,338 likes, 23 comments - bbcafrica on November 24, 2024: "Tanzania-based non-profit APOPO has already trained giant rats to sniff out landmines, victims of natural disasters and medical diseases lik...

www.instagram.com

Kate Webb, PhD @brainstorm12.bsky.social · Nov 25

Thanks BBC for highlighting our recent work in this video!
www.bbc.com/reel/video/p...

How giant rats in mini vests help sniff out crime

A nonprofit in Tanzania is training African giant rats in scent detection to fight wildlife trafficking.

www.bbc.com

1 1

Kate Webb, PhD @brainstorm12.bsky.social · Nov 18

The lab uses multimodal #neuroimaging, ecological momentary assessments, geospatial analyses (greenspace, air pollution, segregation etc), and (epi)genetic methods. We work with diverse datasets of all sizes and are growing our current global mental health work (Tanzania and South Africa)!

a black and white image of a brain with a blue line going through it

ALT: a black and white image of a brain with a blue line going through it

media.tenor.com

3

Kate Webb, PhD @brainstorm12.bsky.social · Nov 18

Finally left the other place...

Hi, I'm Kate! 👋 I'm a #newAssistantProfessor in #Psychiatry at Duke University. Our lab (The BEES Lab) conducts research to determine how socioenvironmental factors influence the development of stress and trauma-related disorders and the utility of biomarkers.

3 1 15