Research Keywords:
- Drug Addiction
- Reward Circuitry
- Learning and memory
- Excitation-inhibition balance
- Psychedelic drugs
Research Highlights:
Chronic exposure to drugs of abuse causes numerous cellular and behavioral adaptations such as tolerance, dependence, and craving following withdrawal. My laboratory is focused on elucidating the cellular and synaptic mechanisms by which drugs of abuse alter ion channel function in different brain structures within the reward system. Using a multidisciplinary approach involving the most advanced electrophysiological, optogenetic, biochemical, and behavioral techniques, we study how various classes of drugs, such as cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana, modulate the function of ion channels in different stages in the development of addiction and following withdrawal from the drugs. Specifically, we are studying how the normal functions of the significant excitatory (Glutamate) and inhibitory (GABA) ion channels in the brain are altered in animals exposed to different drugs and the corresponding changes in the signaling cascades that lead to addictive behaviors. In addition, we study how drug-induced modifications of synaptic plasticity and learning and memory are engaged and “hijack” the brain reward system during the development and expression of addiction. We believe that this approach will lead to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie the development and maintenance of addiction and will enable us to translate basic knowledge of addiction into clinical progress.