The Neuroendocrinology and Behavior Laboratory (NBL) investigates how stress during periods of heightened brain plasticity, particularly early life and the postpartum period, shapes vulnerability and resilience to substance use disorders, psychiatric disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease. We study how stress interacts with sex-related factors, such as hormones, to shape neural systems underlying cognition and motivation. By examining these processes from molecules and cells to neural circuits and behavior, we seek to uncover the mechanisms through which stress produces lasting changes in brain and behavior.