Susan Maloney

Additional Titles & Roles

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• Co-Director, IDDRC Model Systems Core
• Director, IDDRC Animal Behavior Subunit
• Assistant Director, Animal Behavior Core

Education & Training

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• Ph.D.: University of Missouri in St Louis, 2012
• M.A.: University of Missouri in St Louis, 2007
• B.A.: University of Missouri in St Louis, 2003

Major Awards

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• W.M. Keck Fellowship for Molecular Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, 2015
• Neuroscience, Behavior and Cognition Student of the Year Award, University of Missouri – St. Louis, 2011
• Outstanding Research in Behavioral Neuroscience Award, University of Missouri – St. Louis, 2011
• Kathy Van Dyke Scholarship for Leadership and Significant Contribution to the Field of Psychology, University of Missouri – St. Louis, 2008
• Outstanding Graduate Student in the Ph.D. Program in Behavioral Neuroscience Award, University of Missouri – St. Louis, 2007

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Research Interests

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The focus of my research is the impact of genetic and environmental liabilities for intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD) on neural circuit function. I have over 20 years of experience with rodent behavioral research with >30 co-authored empirical research manuscripts with rodent behavior. My laboratory uses mouse models and a range of behavioral and neuroanatomical approaches to define consequences of IDD-related genetic and environmental risk factors on behavior circuit output and underlying circuit function. We focus on developmental assays, social tasks, sensory/motor function, and learning and memory, and the participation of IDD liabilities in these circuits. In addition, we couple our behavioral analyses with neuroanatomical techniques along with protein and transcriptomic assays to interrogate the neurobiology underlying the behavioral phenotypes we define. We have identified unique and similar roles in neural circuit functions for genes implicated in IDDs such as ID, autism, ADHD, MYT1L Syndrome, Neurofibromatosis Type 1, Börjeson-Forssman-Lehmann Syndrome, Tatton Brown Rahman Syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, and Williams Syndrome.

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Recent Publications

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• Chromosomal and gonadal sex have differing effects on social motivation in mice

  Chaturvedi, S. M., Sarafinovska, S., Selmanovic, D., McCullough, K. B., Swift, R. G., Maloney, S. E. & Dougherty, J. D., Dec 2025, In: Biology of Sex Differences. 16, 1, 13.

• The gain-of-function UBE3A^Q588E variant causes Angelman-like neurodevelopmental phenotypes in mice

  Weston, K. P., Gunelson, A. M., Maloney, S., Ge, X., Stelzer, J. A., Kim, K. S., Collier, S., Mindt, M. M., Agajanian, M. J., Major, M. B., Goldfarb, D., Noguchi, K. & Yi, J., Dec 2025, In: Scientific reports. 15, 1, 9152.

• Lifespan in rodents with MYT1L heterozygous mutation

  Schreiber, A., Swift, R. G., Wilson, L., Kroll, K. L., Dougherty, J. & Maloney, S., Dec 2025, In: Scientific reports. 15, 1, 4998.

• Characterization of early markers of disease in the mouse model of mucopolysaccharidosis IIIB

  McCullough, K. B., Titus, A., Reardon, K., Conyers, S., Dougherty, J. D., Ge, X., Garbow, J. R., Dickson, P., Yuede, C. M. & Maloney, S. E., Dec 2024, In: Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders. 16, 1, 16.

• Mice lacking Astn2 have ASD-like behaviors and altered cerebellar circuit properties

  Hanzel, M., Fernando, K., Maloney, S. E., Horn, Z., Gong, S., Mätlik, K., Zhao, J., Pasolli, H. A., Heissel, S., Dougherty, J. D., Hull, C. & Hatten, M. E., Aug 20 2024, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 121, 34, e2405901121.

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