Research Interest

Our laboratory researches the processes and mechanisms of the addictive properties of drugs of abuse which include cocaine, heroin, the combination of the 2 drugs (speedball) and alcohol.  Turnover rates of dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, aspartate, glutamate, gamma-aminobutyric acid and acetylcholine in drug self-administering rats provide definition of the brain circuitry underlying the self-administration processes.  These circuitries are then validated with in vivo microdialysis, intracranial microinjections of neurotoxin and selective receptor alkylating agents, neurotransmitter receptor binding, gene expression and proteomics to identify the molecular mechanisms mediating drug self-administration.