We work to identify the neural predictors and consequences of substance use disorders

Our Lab’s Mission

Opioid use disorder is an epidemic in the United States, where fentanyl has caused a dramatic spike in overdose deaths (>70,000/year). Fentanyl’s low price, ready availability, and extreme potency contribute to its profound impacts and difficult treatment. The current pharmacological treatments for fentanyl use disorder, primarily opioid replacements, have proven insufficient to stem the tide of fentanyl related suffering and deaths. Careful preclinical modeling of volitional fentanyl intake is essential to understanding the adaptations in neurobiology caused by chronic exposure and to test possible new pharmacotherapies for fentanyl use disorder. Recently, we developed a new preclinical model of fentanyl seeking in outbred male and female rats using volitional oral self-administration (SA) that that faithfully captures unique components of fentanyl addiction. We pair this model with neural recordings and manipulation to study the neural dynamics underlying addiction susceptibility.