Motivation is an essential component of our life. Almost everything we do is determined by our motivation to do it. Normally, motivated behavior is the driving force behind adaptive behaviors that maximize our chances of reinforcement and survival. However, losing control over motivated behavior is detrimental and leads to one of the most devastating behavioral disorders – addiction. This may be true not only for drugs of abuse but for natural rewards like palatable food as well.
Our lab is interested in understanding what happens in the brain that turns normal motivated behavior into an addiction. We investigate this by combining electrophysiology with behavioral models of drug addiction and obesity, optogenetics, chemogenetics and immunohistochemistry to target and manipulate specific circuits in the reward system and evaluate synaptic plasticity in addiction and obesity.
