Our research aims to identify the neurobiological mechanisms underlying stress and addiction. We focus on adolescent drinking as a risk factor for addiction later in life. Rodent models are used in combination with biochemical, neuroanatomical, and behavioral approaches to answer these questions. Current projects include investigating the differential effect of alcohol on myelination of corticolimbic circuitry in males and females, and the role of modulatory factors such as gonadal and stress hormones in this process.
What we study
Current Research
In our current studies, we are exploring the underlying mechanisms driving the development of frontolimbic circuits involved in learning and memory, stress regulation, and behavioral choices. The prefrontal cortex is one of the last brain regions to undergo maturational processes such as axonal myelination, and we hypothesize that vulnerability of these neural circuits may explain why “risky, impulsive behaviors” such as binge alcohol or drug use are both common to teenagers and have such devastating and long-lasting consequences on psychiatric health, addiction, and cognitive decline during aging. To explore our research questions, we use various challenges that perturb the normal developmental processes and behavioral, biochemical, and immunofluorescence techniques allow us to assay changes in brain function. The long-term goal of these studies is to identify unique mechanisms underlying neural plasticity changes across the lifespan to discover novel targets for therapeutic intervention for stress disorders and aging-related diseases of the nervous system.
