Laboratory of motivated behavior and addiction
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology
Neuroscience Research Center
Medical College of Wisconsin
Substance use disorder is a chronic, relapsing condition influenced not only by the pharmacological effects of drugs, but also by environmental experiences and brain health. Our laboratory investigates how positive and negative environmental factors shape drug intake and relapse-like behavior using well-validated rat and mouse models of substance use disorder.
We focus on three major research areas:
Neuroscience Research Center
Medical College of Wisconsin
Substance use disorder is a chronic, relapsing condition influenced not only by the pharmacological effects of drugs, but also by environmental experiences and brain health. Our laboratory investigates how positive and negative environmental factors shape drug intake and relapse-like behavior using well-validated rat and mouse models of substance use disorder.
We focus on three major research areas:
- Environmental Regulation of Drug-Seeking Neural Ensembles.
- Addictive behaviors are driven by small, functionally defined groups of neurons—often called drug-seeking ensembles—that are activated during relapse. Using transgenic and activity-dependent tagging approaches, we identify and manipulate neurons engaged during intravenous drug self-administration and subsequent drug seeking.
We examine how environmental enrichment, stress, and other experiential factors alter the activity and function of these ensembles. This work aims to determine how environmental context reshapes relapse-related neural circuitry.
Collaborators: Drs. John Mantsch and Jennifer Tuscher (MCW)
- Addictive behaviors are driven by small, functionally defined groups of neurons—often called drug-seeking ensembles—that are activated during relapse. Using transgenic and activity-dependent tagging approaches, we identify and manipulate neurons engaged during intravenous drug self-administration and subsequent drug seeking.
- Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and Vulnerability to Substance Misuse
- Mild traumatic brain injury can disrupt mesocorticolimbic circuitry: the brain networks that regulate reward, motivation, and executive control. We study how mTBI alters opioid seeking and related circuit function, with particular emphasis on prefrontal regulation of drug-directed behavior.
By combining behavioral models with neurobiological analyses, this work seeks to understand how brain injury increases substance misuse vulnerability and impairs recovery.
Collaborators: Drs. Brian Stemper and Matthew Budde (Biomedical Engineering & Neurosurgery, MCW)
- Mild traumatic brain injury can disrupt mesocorticolimbic circuitry: the brain networks that regulate reward, motivation, and executive control. We study how mTBI alters opioid seeking and related circuit function, with particular emphasis on prefrontal regulation of drug-directed behavior.
- Chronic Pain, Opioid Seeking, and Prefrontal Function
- Chronic pain is a major risk factor for opioid misuse. Our work demonstrated sex-dependent increases in oxycodone seeking following neuropathic pain. We are now expanding this research to determine:
Whether non-opioid analgesics can reduce pain-driven opioid seeking
How pain and analgesic treatment alters intrinsic excitability of prefrontal pyramidal neurons
This research integrates behavioral pharmacology with cellular neurophysiology to identify safer treatment strategies for pain without increasing risk for opioid misuse.
Collaborators: Drs. Cheryl Stucky and Qing-song Liu (Pharmacology & Toxicology, MCW)
- Chronic pain is a major risk factor for opioid misuse. Our work demonstrated sex-dependent increases in oxycodone seeking following neuropathic pain. We are now expanding this research to determine:
