Understanding how our bodies respond to stressful situations is essential for addressing the rising prevalence of stress-related mental illnesses, one of the most urgent public health challenges of our time. Although the body’s stress response system evolved to enhance survival and help us adapt to both real and perceived threats, chronic and severe stress exposures are now recognized as major drivers of a wide range of mental and physical illnesses.

This doctoral-level course offers a rigorous, mechanistically grounded exploration of stress neurobiology across the lifespan, with a strong emphasis on translational relevance. The curriculum delves into molecular, circuit-level, and behavioral mechanisms by which stress influences brain development, function, as well as vulnerability and resilience to disease.

To enhance its translational scope, the course integrates diverse disciplinary perspectives, including molecular biology, genomics, computational science, and clinical and social neuroscience. Students will learn about advanced in-vitro and in-vivo animal models, as well as human clinical and population cohorts, to understand how biological and behavioral data across multiple scales are integrated using state-of-the-art analytical tools. Ethical and societal implications, such as stress/trauma modeling and sex differences, will be critically examined. Contributions from both local and international experts will enrich the curriculum and foster opportunities for inter-institutional academic exchange.