Research Interests:
Alcohol Use Disorder, Learning and Memory, Synaptic Transmission, Neural Plasticity, Adolescence and Development.
Current Research:
My laboratory seeks to identify neural mechanisms underlying the interplay between alcohol use and aberrant memory processes, with a focus on adolescence as a period of developmental vulnerability. We use a combination of behavioral, molecular, circuit-based, and electrophysiological approaches to fill knowledge gaps related to what neural systems are compromised by binge-like alcohol exposure during adolescence, and how adolescent binge drinking may drive behavioral dysfunction in adulthood. We are also interested in how brain plasticity across adolescence supports maturation of memory processes. My goal is that findings from my laboratory will contribute critical insight into the plasticity of the adolescent brain, and mechanisms of lasting alcohol-induced dysfunction.