Rate My Professor Lauren Harms

Dr. Lauren Harms is a Lecturer in Human Physiology in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, part of the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She completed her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Queensland in 2012 and holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Neuroscience from the same institution. Before her current appointment, she served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Newcastle's School of Psychology. Her research expertise lies in behavioural neuroscience, utilizing animal models to examine how environmental risk factors for neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia, affect brain development and adult behaviour. A core focus of her work involves investigating the consequences of maternal immune activation during early or late gestation on the brain's ability to generate key electrical impulses, such as mismatch negativity (MMN) and high-frequency oscillations. She explores these effects on cognitive processes including attention and memory, and leads integrative projects assessing early-life and adolescent influences on electrophysiological signals and related behaviours.

Dr. Harms has produced over 40 journal articles and 10 conference outputs, significantly advancing understanding of schizophrenia endophenotypes and translational biomarkers. Prominent publications include 'Contextualised Processing of Stimuli Modulates Auditory Mismatch Responses in the Rat' (Clinical EEG and Neuroscience, 2025; with Jalewa J, Todd J, Michie PT, Hodgson DM); 'The effect of schizophrenia risk factors on mismatch responses in a rat model' (Psychophysiology, 2023; with Jalewa J et al.); 'The Role of Glutamate Neurotransmission in Mismatch Negativity (MMN), A Measure of Auditory Synaptic Plasticity and Change-detection' (Neuroscience, 2021; with Parras GG, Michie PT, Malmierca MS); 'Adolescent cannabinoid exposure interacts with other risk factors in schizophrenia: A review of the evidence from animal models' (Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 2020; with Dunn AL, Michie PT, Hodgson DM); 'Neonatal immune challenge influences the microbiota and behaviour in a sexually dimorphic manner' (Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2022; with Cuskelly A et al.); and 'Of mice, molecules and mental health: establishment of the consortium for preclinical psychiatric research to find solutions to the translational gap' (Molecular Psychiatry, 2026; multi-author). Her contributions emphasize predictive coding in auditory event-related potentials and the interplay of developmental risk factors like immune challenges and NMDA receptor modulation.