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Cruz, Dianne

School of Medicine
Psychiatry
(210) 567-5413
cruzd4@uthscsa.edu

Appointments Education Expertise Teaching Publications Grants

12/2010 - Present	Graduate Faculty	UTHSCSA, Clinical Laboratory Sciences, San Antonio, TX
9/2008 - Present	Faculty Associate	The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Psychiatry, San Antonio, TX

Year	Degree	Discipline	Institution
1997	MS	Neurobiology	University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh , PA
1994	BA	Biology (Cum Laude)	St. Edward''s University Austin , TX

Brain Banking

- Extensive experience in oversite and coordination of human postmortem brain bank procedures, including donor criteria, establishing procedures for postmortem clinical diagnosis, tissue collection, processing, and storage, and database management for related tissue and clinical donor information.

GABA Neurotransmission in Postnatal Development

- Research projects involve examining the postnatal development of markers of GABA neurotransmissionn in the prefrontal cortex of non-human primate brain.

GABA neurotransmission in the Prefrontal Cortex

- Research area includes examining markers of GABA neurotransmission at the axon intial segment of pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia.

Graphics

- Experience in graphics, including graphical representation of data, utilizing software to design brain anatomical representations and schematics, utilizing software for graph assembly for presentations and manuscripts.

Histological Techniques

- Experienced in a wide variety of histological techniques, including silver impregnation techniques.

Immunocytochemistry

- Extensive experience in free-floating immunocytochemistry procedures in rodent, monkey, and human brain specimens. Experience also includes antigen retrieval methodology.

Non-isotopic in situ hybridization

- Experience in in situ hybridization techniques using non-isotopic detection methodology.

Tissue Sectioning

- Extensive experience in cryosectioning (thaw-mounted sections and fixed free-floating sections) and in semi-thin sectioning on an ultramicrotome

Date	Description	Institution	# Students
12/2010 - Present	Masters'' Thesis Directed	UTHSCSA

Journal Article

Murrell, Meredith, Cruz DA, Javors MA, Thompson PM. Distribution of venlafaxine, O-desmethylvenlafaxine, and O-desmethylvenlafaxine to venlafaxine ratio in postmortem human brain tissue Journal of Forensic Sciences 2014 May;.

Thompson PM, Bernardo CG, Cruz DA, Ketchum NS, Michalek JE, Cruz D. Concordance of psychiatric symptom ratings between a subject and informant, relevancy to post-mortem research Transl Psychiatry 2013 Jan;3:214-214.

Marballi K, Cruz D, Thompson P, Walss-Bass C. Differential neuregulin 1 cleavage in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: preliminary findings PLOS One 2012 May;7(5):1-10.

Thompson PM, Cruz DA, Olukotun DY, Delgado PL, Cruz D. Serotonin receptor, SERT mRNA and correlations with symptoms in males with alcohol dependence and suicide Acta Psychiatr Scand 2011 Dec;.

Cruz D, Lovallo EM, Stockton S, Rasband M, Lewis DA. Postnatal Development of Synaptic Structure Proteins in Pyramidal Neuron Axon Initial Segments in Monkey Prefrontal Cortex Journal of Comparative Neurology 2009 Jan;.

Cruz D, Weaver C, Lovallo EM, Melchitzky DS, Lewis DA. Selective Alterations in Postsynaptic Markers of Chandelier Cell Inputs to Cortical Pyramidal Neurons in Subjects with Schizophrenia Neuropsychopharmacology 2009 Jan;.

Federal
Funding Agency	Texas A&M Research Foundation/DoD
Title	The Root Cause of Post-traumatic and Development and Stress Disorders
Status	Active
Period	1/2009 - 12/2013
Role	Co-Investigator
Grant Detail	The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) will provide personnel, equipment and supply support for collection, preparation and storage of whole brain hemispheres from subjects with a diagnosis of PTSD and/or major depression (and appropriate controls). The goal of this subcontract is to collect acceptable brain hemispheres, from PTSD/depression and controls.
Funding Agency	NIMH
Title	Southwest Brain Bank
Status	Active
Period	4/2009 - 4/2012
Role	Contributor
Grant Detail	The objective of this project is to provide additional infrastructure support to the Southwest Brain Bank by purchasing needed equipment and resources to facilitate and expand current collection procedures.
Private
Funding Agency	Department of Psychiatry, UTHSCSA
Title	Inflammation and Microglial Activation in Bipolar Disorder
Status	Active
Period	9/2009 - 8/2010
Role	Principal Investigator
Grant Detail	This study examines the effects of microglia as contributors to the inflammatory response and oxidative stress pathways in the postmortem brains of bipolar subjects. Due to the limited availability of postmortem human brain tissue, these studies will provide critical information in the understanding of immune and oxidative stress pathways in the neuropathophysiology of bipolar disorder.

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