Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch
Drug Development and Plasticity Section
Cellular Pathobiology Unit
Overview
The Cellular Pathobiology Unit focuses on cellular biological processes underlying addiction and related pathobiological disorders, with a special emphasis on signaling processes through which effects of drugs of abuse alter cellular function.
Areas of Research
The current focus of the laboratory is to test a hypothesis that psychostimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine cause addiction by utilizing lipids and lipid-associated proteins to produce long-term alterations in neural systems that underpins addiction, as well as certain other disorders of neural function. We employ molecular imaging combined with molecular biological techniques to test this hypothesis. Particular areas of interest are lipid rafts in neurobiology, neuroplasticity and psychostimulant self-administration, and molecular mechanisms of beta-amyloid signaling.
Future Directions
Long-term goals are to understand the relationships between lipid raft processing and neuronal signaling, relationships between drugs of abuse and lipid rafts, and how cells employ lipid rafts to control intracellular function. A broader aim is to understand the interactions between lipid rafts and other cellular signaling pathways that may be related to the neurobiological basis of behaviors underlying addiction.
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Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch
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