Education

Ph.D in Laboratory of Neuroimmunology, School of Psychology, The University of Newcastle, Australia, 2014

Current Position

Postdoctoral Researcher, Neuroendocrinology of the Obese Brain Research Group, School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Australia

Publications

1. Sominsky, L., Ziko, I., Nguyen, T. X., Andrews, Z. B. and Spencer, S. J. (2016). Early life disruption to the ghrelin system with over-eating is resolved in adulthood in male rats. Neuropharmacology 113(Pt A): 21-30.
2. Soch, A., Bradburn, S., Sominsky, L., De Luca, S. N., Murgatroyd, C. and Spencer, S. J. (2016). Effects of exercise on adolescent and adult hypothalamic and hippocampal neuroinflammation. Hippocampus 26(11): 1435-1446.
3. De Luca, S. N., Ziko, I., Sominsky, L., Nguyen, J. C., Dinan, T., Miller, A. A., Jenkins, T. A. and Spencer, S. J. (2016). Early life overfeeding impairs spatial memory performance by reducing microglial sensitivity to learning. J Neuroinflammation 13(1): 112.
4. Cai, G., Ziko, I., Barwood, J., Soch, A., Sominsky, L., Molero, J. C. and Spencer, S. J. (2016). Overfeeding during a critical postnatal period exacerbates hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to immune challenge: a role for adrenal melanocortin 2 receptors. Sci Rep 6: 21097.
5. Sominsky, L., Ziko, I., Soch, A., Smith, J. T. and Spencer, S. J. (2016). Neonatal overfeeding induces early decline of the ovarian reserve: Implications for the role of leptin. Mol Cell Endocrinol 431: 24-35.
6. Sominsky, L., Fuller, E. A. and Hodgson, D. M. (2015). Factors in Early-Life Programming of Reproductive Fitness. Neuroendocrinology 102(3): 216-225.
7. Hale, M. W., Spencer, S. J., Conti, B., Jasoni, C. L., Kent, S., Radler, M. E., Reyes, T. M. and Sominsky, L. (2015). Diet, behavior and immunity across the lifespan. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 58: 46-62.
8. Ziko, I., De Luca, S., Dinan, T., Barwood, J. M., Sominsky, L., Cai, G., Kenny, R., Stokes, L., Jenkins, T. A. and Spencer, S. J. (2014). Neonatal overfeeding alters hypothalamic microglial profiles and central responses to immune challenge long-term. Brain Behav Immun 41: 32-43.
9. Sominsky, L. and Spencer, S. J. (2014). Eating behavior and stress: a pathway to obesity. Front Psychol 5: 434.
10. Shaashua, L., Rosenne, E., Neeman, E., Sorski, L., Sominsky, L., Matzner, P., Page, G. G. and Ben-Eliyahu, S. (2014). Plasma IL-12 levels are suppressed in vivo by stress and surgery through endogenous release of glucocorticoids and prostaglandins but not catecholamines or opioids. Psychoneuroendocrinology 42: 11-23.
11. Sominsky, L., Sobinoff, A. P., Jobling, M. S., Pye, V., McLaughlin, E. A. and Hodgson, D. M. (2013). Immune regulation of ovarian development: programming by neonatal immune challenge. Front Neurosci 7: 100.
12. Sominsky, L., Fuller, E. A., Bondarenko, E., Ong, L. K., Averell, L., Nalivaiko, E., Dunkley, P. R., Dickson, P. W. and Hodgson, D. M. (2013). Functional programming of the autonomic nervous system by early life immune exposure: implications for anxiety. PLoS One 8(3): e57700.
13. Sominsky, L., Walker, A. K. and Hodgson, D. M. (2013). Predicting health: the role of the early life environment. In: Kuznecov, A. and Anisman, H. (eds). The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Psychoneuroimmunology, 266-295.
14. Zavitsanou, K., Dalton, V. S., Walker, A. K., Weickert, C. S., Sominsky, L. and Hodgson, D. M. (2013). Neonatal lipopolysaccharide treatment has long-term effects on monoaminergic and cannabinoid receptors in the rat. Synapse 67(6): 290-299.
15. Sominsky, L., Meehan, C. L., Walker, A. K., Bobrovskaya, L., McLaughlin, E. A. and Hodgson, D. M. (2012). Neonatal immune challenge alters reproductive development in the female rat. Horm Behav 62(3): 345-355.
16. Sominsky, L., Walker, A. K., Ong, L. K., Tynan, R. J., Walker, F. R. and Hodgson, D. M. (2012). Increased microglial activation in the rat brain following neonatal exposure to a bacterial mimetic. Behav Brain Res 226(1): 351-356.
17. Shaashua, L., Sominsky, L., Levi, B., Sorski, L., Reznick, M., Page, G. G. and Ben-Eliyahu, S. (2012). In vivo suppression of plasma IL-12 levels by acute and chronic stress paradigms: potential mediating mechanisms and sex differences. Brain Behav Immun 26(6): 996-1005.
18. Ong, L. K., Sominsky, L., Dickson, P. W., Hodgson, D. M. and Dunkley, P. R. (2012). The sustained phase of tyrosine hydroxylase activation in vivo. Neurochem Res 37(9): 1938-1943.
19. Walker, A. K., Hawkins, G., Sominsky, L. and Hodgson, D. M. (2012). Transgenerational transmission of anxiety induced by neonatal exposure to lipopolysaccharide: implications for male and female germ lines. Psychoneuroendocrinology 37(8): 1320-1335.
20. Walker, A. K., Hiles, S. A., Sominsky, L., McLaughlin, E. A. and Hodgson, D. M. (2011). Neonatal lipopolysaccharide exposure impairs sexual development and reproductive success in the Wistar rat. Brain Behav Immun 25(4): 674-684.
21. Nakamura, T., Walker, A. K., Sominsky, L., Allen, T., Rosengren, S. and Hodgson, D. M. (2011). Maternal separation in early life impairs tumor immunity in adulthood in the F344 rat. Stress 14(3): 335-343.
22. Mishali, M., Sominsky, L. and Heymann, A. D. (2010). Reducing resistance to diabetes treatment using short narrative interventions. Fam Pract 27(2): 192-197.
23. Naor, R., Domankevich, V., Shemer, S., Sominsky, L., Rosenne, E., Levi, B. and Ben-Eliyahu, S. (2009). Metastatic-promoting effects of LPS: sexual dimorphism and mediation by catecholamines and prostaglandins. Brain Behav Immun 23(5): 611-621.