Dr. Barton teaches courses in Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychology including General Psychology, Biopsychology, Learning and Cognition, and Behavioral Neuroscience. Her research interests include alcohol, exercise, glia, neuroimmune function, and behavior. Currently, Dr. Barton’s research is focused on the interplay between hormones, cognition, and patterns of alcohol drinking. Through her teaching and research, she strives to foster an interest in neuroscience among her students and teach them how to engage in critical, creative thinking that is informed by evidence.

Education

Postdoctoral Fellow, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Ph.D. in Developmental, Cognitive, and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Houston

M.A. in Psychology, University of Houston

B.A. in Psychology, St. Edward's University

Publications & Articles

Publications

Sabbagh, A., Beccaria, K., Ling, X., Marisetty, A., Caruso, H., Barton, E.A., Ott, M., Kong, L., Fang, D., Zhang, D., Wei, J., DeGroot, J., Rao, G., Desseaux, C., Bouchoux, G., Canney, M., Carpentier, A., & Heimberger, A.B. (2021). Low intensity pulsed ultrasound induced blood-brain barrier opening improves response to immunotherapy for glioblastoma in preclinical models. Clinical Cancer Research.

West, R.K., Wooden, J.I., Barton, E.A., & Leasure, J.L. (2019). Recurrent Binge Ethanol is Associated with Significant Loss of Dentate Gyrus Granule Neurons in Female Rats Despite Concomitant Increase in Neurogenesis. Neurobiology of Disease.

Barton, E.A., Baker, C., & Leasure, J.L. (2017). Investigation of sex differences in the microglial response to binge ethanol and exercise. Brain Sciences, 7(10), 139.

Maynard, M.E., Barton, E.A., Robinson, C., Wooden, J., & Leasure, J.L. (2017). Sex differences in hippocampal damage, cognitive impairment and trophic factor expression in an animal model of an Alcohol Use Disorder. Brain Structure and Function.

Barton, E.A., Lu, Y., Megjhani, M., Maynard, M.E., Kulkarni, P., Roysam, B., & Leasure, J.L. (2017).Binge alcohol alters exercise-driven neuroplasticity. Neuroscience, 343, 165–173.

Maynard, M. E., Chung, C., Comer, A., Nelson, K., Tran, J., Werries, N., Barton, E. A., Spinetta, M., & Leasure, J. L. (2016) Ambient temperature influences the neural benefits of exercise. Behavioral Brain Research, 299,27 – 31.

Kulkarni, P. M., Barton, E.A., Savelonas, M., Padmanabhan, R., Lu, Y., Trett, K., Shain, W., Leasure, J.L., Roysam, B. (2015). Quantitative 3-D analysis of GFAP labeled astrocytes from fluorescence confocal images. J Neuroscience Methods, 246, 38-51.

Wagner, J.L, Barton, E.A., Geil, C.R., Leasure, J.L., & Nixon, K. (2015). Roles of neural stem cells in alcohol use disorders.In A. K. Shetty (Ed.), Neural Stem Cells in Health and Disease.  Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company.

Presentations

Presentations

Cital, M., Shortle, L., Goldey, K., & Barton, E.A. (2021). The impact of pandemic-related stress on alcohol use among college students. Talk presented at the annual meeting for the Southwest Psychological Association in San Antonio, TX.

Rodriguez, S., Espinosa, A., Patcha, J., Cital, M., Barton, E.A., & Goldey, K. (2021). Intimacy in the time of COVID: Pandemic-related stress and sexual desire. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Southwest Psychological Association in San Antonio, TX.

Redman, V., Mendoza, J., Altimont, C., Gordon, A., & Barton, E.A. (2020). Effect of alcohol drinking and exercise behaviors on working memory performance in college students. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Texas Research Society on Alcoholism, Bryan, TX.

Altimont, C., Redman, V., Mendoza, J., Gordon, A., & Barton, E.A. (2020). Motivations for college drinking across self-identified drinking behaviors and gender. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Texas Research Society on Alcoholism, Bryan, TX.

Sabbagh, A., Marisetty, A., Ott, M., Ling, X., Barton, E.A., Caruso, H., Kong, L., Rao, G., & Heimberger, A.B. (2019). Ultrasound Enhances Blood-Brain Barrier Opening Thus Improving Response to Immunotherapy for Glioblastoma. Presented at the SNO-SCIDOT Joint Conference on Therapeutic Delivery to the CNS, Phoenix, AZ.

Barton, E.A., Lu, Y., Megjhani, M., Maynard, M.E., Roysam, B., & Leasure, J.L. (2016). Microglia Morphology in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Following Binge Alcohol Consumption and Exercise. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Barton, E.A., Lu, Y., Megjhani, M., Maynard, M.E., Roysam, B., & Leasure, J.L. (2016). Morphological Analysis of Microglia in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex following Binge Alcohol Consumption and Exercise. Poster presented at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory meeting on Glia in Health and Disease, Cold Spring Harbor, NY.

Barton, E.A., Kulkarni, P., Maynard, M.E., Roysam, B., & Leasure, J.L. (2014). Computational Image Analysis of Glial Morphology Following Binge-induced Damage and Exercise-driven Recovery. Poster presented at the Biology of Behavior Institute Annual Retreat, Houston, TX; and the annual meeting for the Research Society on Alcoholism, Bellevue, WA.

Leasure, J.L., Maynard, M.E., Barton, E.A., Kulkarni, P., & Roysam, B. (2014). Computational Analysis of Exercise-Driven Recovery After Alcohol-Induced Brain Damage. Poster presented at the Gordon Conference on alcohol and the central nervous system, Galveston, TX.

Barton, E.A., Kulkarni, P., Maynard, M.E., Rea, M.A., Roysam, B., & Leasure, J.L. (2013). Enduring Effects of Binge Alcohol Exposure on the Frontal Cortex. Poster presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Barton, E.A., Simic, Z., & Paskos, D.K. (2011). Exploring the Effects of Impulsivity and Video Game Playing on Executive Function Tasks. Poster presented at the annual Southwestern Psychological Association conference, San Antonio, TX.

Barton, E.A., Scott, B.M., Larery, A., Stouter, J., Duncan, G., Carlson, H., Nance, M., York, M.K., & Strutt, A.M. (2010). Clinical Utility of Three Visuospatial Construction Measures in the Assessment of Alzheimer’s Disease. Poster presented at the Bazelides Research Symposium, Houston, TX.

Department Group

School Group

School of Behavioral and Social Sciences