General Biology Seminar

Abstract:

My lab interested in understanding how brain circuits mediate motivated behaviors and how maladaptive change in these circuits lead to neuropsychiatric disorders. To achieve this goal, we chose to study the neural circuits for pain and addiction. Both pain and drugs trigger highly motivated behaviors, and the transition to chronic pain and to compulsive drug use involve maladaptive changes of the underlying neuronal circuitry. In this talk, I will first describe a neural circuit underlying opioid addiction, then I will show you some ongoing work to dissect the descending pain modulation pathways