Michelle Bales
Interest
Dr. Bales earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Florida State University in 2018 where she studied the role of gustatory cortex in taste detection in Dr. Alan Spector’s laboratory. Following her graduate work, she became a postdoctoral researcher at Vanderbilt University in Dr. Julio Ayala’s lab where she studied glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and its role in feeding in the context of stress and obesity. In 2022, she took another role as a postdoc at FSU in Dr. Linda Rinaman’s lab where she studied GLP-1 in the hindbrain and its role in anxiety-like behaviors and early life stress. In 2025, she became Teaching Faculty in the Program in Neuroscience and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Neuroscience at FSU.
Education
2018 Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
2015 M.S. in Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
2011 B.S. in Psychology and Sociology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Fathi, P., Bales M.B., Ayala J.E. Time dependent changes in feeding behavior and energy balance associated with weight gain in mice fed obesogenic diets. Obesity (2024). DOI: 10.1002/oby.24052
Le, D.V.T., Fathi P., Watters A.B., Ellis B.J., Besing G.L.K., Bozadjieva-Kramer N., Perez M.B., Sullivan A.I., Rose J.P., Baggio L.L., Koehler J., Brown JL, Bales M.B., Nwaba K.G., Campbell J.E., Drucker D.J., Potthoff M.J., Seeley R.J., Ayala J.E. Fibroblast Growth Factor-21 is Required for Weight Loss Induced by the Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Liraglutide in Male Mice Fed High Carbohydrate Diets. Molecular Metabolism (2023) DOI: 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101718.
Bales, M.B., Centanni, S.W., Luchsinger, J.R., Fathi, P., Biddinger, J.E., Le, T.D.V., Nwaba, K., Paldrmic, I., Winder, D.G., Ayala, J.E. High Fat Diet Blunts Stress-Induced Hypophagia and Activation of Glp1r Dorsal Lateral Septum Neurons in Male but Not in Female Mice. Molecular Metabolism (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.molmet.2022.101571.
Bales, M.B., Spector, A.C. Chemospecific Deficits in Taste Sensitivity Following Bilateral or Right Hemispheric Gustatory Cortex Lesions in Rats. Journal of Comparative Neurology (2020). DOI: 10.1002/cne.24928
Bales, M.B., Schier, L.A., Blonde, G.D., Spector, A.C. Extensive Gustatory Cortex Lesions Significantly Impair Taste Sensitivity to KCl and Quinine but Not to Sucrose in Rats. PloS one (2015) DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0143419.
Blonde, G.D., Bales, M.B., Spector, A.C. Lesions in Rat Insular Cortex Significantly Disrupt Taste Sensitivity to NaCl and KCl and Slow Salt Discrimination Learning. PloS one (2015) DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0117515.
Torregrossa, A-M., Nikonova, L., Bales, M.B., Leal, M.V., Smith, J.C., Contreras, R.J. Induction of Salivary Proteins Modifies Measures of Both Orosensory and Postingestive Feedback during Exposure to a Tannic Acid Diet. PLOS ONE (2014) 9(8):e105232.
Schier L.A., Hashimoto K., Bales M.B., Blonde G.D., Spector A.C.
High-resolution lesion-mapping strategy links a hot spot in rat insular cortex with impaired expression of taste aversion learning. PNAS (2013) 111(3):1162-7.
Torregrossa, A-M., Bales, M.B., Breza, J.M., Houpt, T.A., Smith, J.C., Contreras, R.J. Water restriction and fluid temperature alter preference for water and sucrose solutions. Chem. Senses (2011) 37(3): 279-292.