Faculty

Rui Peixoto, PhD

Rui Peixoto, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

Contact Details

3811 O'Hara St.
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Email
Website
Neurodevlab

Education & Training

PhD
Neuroscience, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Selected Honors & Awards

Young Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
Bridge to Independence Award, Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI)

Research Interests

Developmental neuroscience; Cortical and striatal development; Autism spectrum disorders
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Janecek M, Deemyad T, Shih Y-C, Valle V, D'Agostino A, Matarazzo M, Perez MS, Ketchesin KD, da Silva S, Peixoto RT (2025) Striatal output regulates the postnatal maturation of cortical circuits. Cell Reports 44(9):116187.
  2. Shih Y-C, Nelson L, Janecek M, Matarazzo M, D'Agostino A, Peixoto RT (2025) Early postnatal dysfunction of ACC PV interneurons in Shank3B KO mice. Molecular Psychiatry. doi:10.1038/s41380-025-03114-w.
  3. Peixoto RT, Chantranupong L, Hakim R, Levasseur J, Wang W, Merchant T, Gorman K, Budnik B, Sabatini BL (2019) Abnormal striatal development underlies the early onset of behavioral deficits in Shank3B KO mice. Cell Reports 29(7):2016-2027.e4.
  4. Peixoto RT, Wang W, Croney D, Kozorovitskiy Y, Sabatini BL (2016) Early hyperactivity and precocious maturation of corticostriatal circuits in Shank3B KO mice. Nature Neuroscience 19(5):716-24
  5. Peixoto RT, Kunz PA, Kwon H, Mabb AM, Sabatini BL, Philpot BD, Ehlers MD (2012) Trans-synaptic signaling by activity dependent cleavage of Neuroligin-1. Neuron 76(2):396-409.

Education Interests

Research mentorship

Pitt Psychiatry’s 2025 Research Day, Part I: A Celebration of Science

Research Day Attendees

The 23rd annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 12, 2025, was the most highly attended Research Day ever, with 653 faculty members, trainees, and staff gathering at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Lunchtime Roundtables More than 300 individuals participated in or facilitated one of 30 roundtable discussion groups focused on topics including...

Psychiatry Residents Present Robust Research at the 7th Annual Psychiatry Research Pathway Symposium

PRP Residents and Mentors

The Psychiatry Research Pathway (PRP) Symposium provides UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital residents engaged in research the opportunity to present their work to fellow residents, faculty mentors, T32 postdoctoral research program directors, and interested members of our academic community. This year, the PRP Symposium began with a panel discussion focused on interventional psychiatry, moderated by Katherine Lyman...

Pitt Psychiatry’s 2024 Research Day, Part I: A Research and Networking Bonanza

Research Day 2024

The 22nd annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day, held on June 13, 2024, was the most highly attended Research Day ever, with 544 faculty members, trainees, and staff gathering at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Lunchtime Roundtables More than 260 individuals participated in or facilitated one of 19 roundtable discussion groups focused on topics including...

The Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium: Presenting Translational Research in Developmental Psychopathology

The Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium Collage

The Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium (DANS) presents recent translational research in developmental psychopathology. The 2023 DANS theme was “ Neurodevelopment of Regulatory Systems: A Focus on Emotions and Motivation,” featuring research focused on the development of neural networks and circuitries implicated in regulating or modulating neural response to emotionally or motivationally salient...

The Department of Psychiatry’s 20th Annual Research Day

The 20th annual Department of Psychiatry Research Day on June 9, 2022, represented a joyful reunion for more than 400 faculty members, trainees, and staff, who had not attended a large in-person event together since 2019. The morning session featured 110 posters at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. In the afternoon, attendees gathered across the street at the University...