Substance use disorders are prominent issues in today's society, significantly impacting our economy and, more importantly, people's health and the lives of their families and friends.

Research Goal

The neural circuits and neuropharmacological mechanisms responsible for regulating processes associated with drug seeking and consumption are not yet fully understood. Our overarching goal is to uncover why substance use disorders develop in certain individuals and produce research which results in the development of novel and effective treatments. Though advancements have been made in recording and quantifying the effects of drugs on neural function and behavior, further examination is needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying the transition to and perpetuation of behaviors that lead to substance use disorders.

Research Approach

Using cutting edge techniques, our labs focus on wide-ranging aspects of this multifaceted problem from molecular mechanisms to circuits to systems to behavior, aiming to translate basic research findings into meaningful approaches to treatment.

Associated Faculty

Jeffrey L. Weiner
Research Interests: Neural substrates underlying vulnerability and resilience to alcohol use disorder and comorbid conditions like PTSD, anxiety and depressive disorders.

Kenneth Tucker Kishida
Research Interests: Human cognition, decision-making, computational psychiatry, dopamine, serotonin, human neuroimaging, translational neuroscience

Ryan M. Drenan
Research Interests: The physiological processes regulated by native nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), a large family of ligand-gated ion channel proteins.

Robert Gould
Research Interests: Substance abuse, sleep, CNS disorders

Sara Jones
Research Interests: Dopamine neurochemistry of drug and alcohol addiction; mouse and rat models of substance abuse

Brian A. McCool
Research Interests: Cell and molecular neurophysiology of alcohol abuse and anxiety-related behaviors

Paul J. Laurienti
Research Interests: Brain; Nerve Net; Attention; Aging; Auditory Perception

Kimberly Francis Raab-Graham
Research Interests: Local protein synthesis, depression, autism, alcohol use disorder, Alzheimer's disease, ion channels, GABAB receptors, mTORC1, calcium imaging, proteomics

Mark John Ferris
Research Interests: Learning, motivated behavior, dopamine, acetylcholine, nicotine, psychostimulants, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, individual differences, drug addition, self-administration, HIV, NeuroAIDS

Erik Donny
Research Interests: Nicotine; Smoking; Smoking Cessation; Tobacco Use Disorder; Reinforcement (Psychology)

Robert E. Hampson
Research Interests: Mechanisms of brain information processing, models of memory, effects of drugs of abuse on memory, and neural prosthetics

Rong Chen
Research Interests: Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Dopamine; Amphetamine: behavior, Animal; Feeding Behavior

Allyn Howlett
Research Interests: Neuropharmacology, Signal transduction Cell Biology, Cannabinoid Receptors, Endocannabinoids

 

 

Dwayne W. Godwin
Research Interests: Epilepsy, Alcohol, Memory, MEG

Michael A. Nader
Research Interests: Social variables affect physiology, pharmacology, neurochemistry, behavior in monkeys

Wayne Pratt
Research Interests: The roles of meso-accumbens neurotransmitter systems in food-directed motivation

Paul Czoty
Research Interests: Nonhuman primate models of substance abuse: behavioral pharmacology and brain imaging

James Daunais
Research Interests: Neuroimaging, Substance Abuse, Primate, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magnetoencephalography

Elizabeth H. Shilling
Research Interests: Alcoholism, Addiction Counseling

James C. Eisenach
Research Interests: Addiction and substance abuse, behavioral and systems neurobiology

Thomas 'Jeff' Martin
Research Interests: How pain and drugs of abuse alter cognitive processes, including attention and impulsivity, and the role of discrete cortical and limbic circuit.

Meredith Addicott, PhD
Research Interests: Stress, Psychological, Tobacco Use Disorder, Reward, Drugs, Brain Imaging, Addiction Neuroscience

Sam Centanni, PhD
Research Interests: Neuronal Plasticity, Brain Circuitries, Alcohol Use Disorder, Mouse Models of Alcohol Use and Affective Disorders

Rita Cervera-Juanes, PhD
Research Interests: Synaptic Transmission, Epigenetics, Genetics and Genomics, Neurodegenerative Dementias, Addiction Neuroscience

Christina Meade, PhD
Research Interests: Cannabinoids, HIV, Psychostimulants, Cognitive Function, Clinical Neuroscience

Edgar Romero-Sandoval, MD, PhD
Research Interests: Gene Therapy, Pain Research, Inflammation Research, Neuropathy, Cannabis Research