Education

Ph.D. in Neuroscience; University of California, San Francisco
B.S.; University of Wisconsin

Research Interests

Our actions are driven by the pursuit of rewards and avoiding aversive outcomes. We are particularly interested in studying how stress and drugs of abuse influence motivation, learning, and decision-making processes. The lab employs a number experimental techniques, including fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, chemogenetics, fiber photometry, and optogenetics. Ongoing research projects are examining the behavioral consequences of astrocyte-neuron interactions in the midbrain, the long-term consequences of stress on reward-guided behavior, and the neural circuits involved with changing reward preference. Our ultimate goal is to identify and reverse neural adaptations underlying aberrant processes in models of psychiatric disorders.

Training Opportunities

Training opportunities are available for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. The lab employs a diverse array of experimental techniques, including fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, optogenetics, chemogenetics, and fiber photometry.

Publications

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