Education Ph.D.               Experimental Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience Program, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 1991. M.S.                Experimental Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience Program, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 1987. B.A.                 Psychology/English, Rutgers University (Rutgers College), Departmental Honors (Highest Distinction) in Psychology. New Brunswick, NJ, 1984.

Research Interests

Why are drugs of abuse such as cocaine so addictive? How can cues associated with prior drug use in human addicts (e.g., drug paraphernalia) elicit such powerful drug craving following months or even years of drug abstinence?  Moreover, is it true that addictive compounds like cocaine "hijack" the parts of the brain that evolved to recognize and consume 'natural' rewards like food and water?

These are some of the questions that drive my research program at UNC.  My primary research interests are to understand how the brain processes information about natural (nondrug) rewards, and how drugs of abuse such as cocaine alter this system and lead to addiction.  Numerous investigations have demonstrated that the rewarding properties of abused substances such as cocaine and ‘natural’ reinforcers such as food and water are mediated by the brain’s ‘reward system’, which includes the nucleus accumbens and its dopaminergic input. Ongoing investigations in my laboratory employ a number of techniques to elucidate how this brain region contributes to reward-related behaviors. Electrophysiological methods involve the use of microwire electrode arrays to monitor neural activity (cellular action potentials) in the nucleus accumbens while animals perform a behavioral task. An electrochemical technique (fast-scan cyclic voltammetry) is also used to detect dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens with unprecedented temporal precision. Finally, these techniques are combined to record both dopamine concentration and cellular activity within the same microenvironment. Using these approaches, our work provides information on the dynamic properties of dopamine release in awake animals, how this signaling may modulate the activation of specific neurons in the accumbens during goal-directed behaviors, and ultimately how drugs of abuse such as cocaine modify this system and result in drug addiction.

Last updated: 6/24/2009