Home Department: undeclared
Mentor: Jason Tucciarone (Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences)

“Uncovering Neural Ensembles in Opioid Intoxication and Precipitated Withdrawal”

As the opioid epidemic remains a devastating reality in America, with more than 100,000 overdose-related deaths annually, it is vital to find new treatment options. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms and circuits of opioid intoxication and withdrawal will be important to uncover new therapeutic targets. Gwendolyne will use cutting edge molecular and genetic neuroanatomical tools to uncover circuits and cell type ensembles recruited during opioid intoxication and precipitated withdrawal. The lab hypothesizes that segregated circuitry in the brain’s reward pathways will mediate both drug states and will be an entry point for further studies uncovering mechanisms of compulsive use and drug relapse.