Professor
M_Neurology
415-502-7620
Signal Transduction, Molecular Neurobiology of Addiction
We use molecular biology, biochemistry and electrophysiology, in parallel with behavioral models, to study how normal signaling processes are altered upon exposure of rodents to alcohol and drugs of abuse, and how these changes lead to the development, maintenance or the prevention of addiction.
Current Projects
- Identifying the function of the growth factors BDNF, GDNF and IGF1 in the CNS and in alcohol abuse disorders.
- Determining the role of the mTor in aberrant synaptic plasticity induced by drugs of abuse.
- Identifying the role of tyrosine kinases and phosphatases in alcohol abuse disorders.
- Determining the role of the NMDA receptor in alcohol-mediated plasticity in the dorsal striatum.
- Exploring the role of scaffolding proteins in the CNS and in alcohol abuse disorders.
- Epigenetic mechanisms and addiction.
- Identifying the role of HSP90 in alcohol abuse disorders.
Academic community service and committee membership:
PSPG Committee for Student Welfare
Publications
BDNF in ventrolateral orbitofrontal cortex to dorsolateral striatum circuit moderates alcohol consumption, seeking and relapse.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Paradoxical mTORC1-Dependent microRNA-mediated Translation Repression in the Nucleus Accumbens of Male Mice Consuming Alcohol Attenuates Glycolysis.
Nature communications
The small G-protein Rac1 in the dorsomedial striatum promotes alcohol-dependent structural plasticity and goal-directed learning in mice.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
Correction: mTORC1 in the orbitofrontal cortex promotes habitual alcohol seeking.
M_PEDS-NEONATOLOGY
mTORC1 in the orbitofrontal cortex promotes habitual alcohol seeking.
M_PEDS-NEONATOLOGY
J Neurochem
Dopamine D2 receptor activation leads to an upregulation of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor via Gbetagamma-Erk1/2-dependent induction of Zif268
J Neurosci
Ethanol-mediated facilitation of AMPA receptor function in the dorsomedial striatum: Implications for alcohol drinking behavior
J Neurochem
Ethanol-induced increase in Fyn kinase activity in the dorsomedial striatum is associated with subcellular redistribution of protein tyrosine phosphatase alpha.