Patricia Janak, PhD
Professor of Neurology, UCSF
Howard J. Weinberger, MD, Endowed Chair in Addiction
Research, UCSF
Member, Graduate Program in
Neuroscience
Member, Program in Biological Sciences
Member, Wheeler Center for the
Neurobiology of Addiction
Phone: (510) 985-3880
Email: pjanak@gallo.ucsf.edu
Research
Addiction is a behavioral phenomenon that depends
critically upon experience with the drug, and upon the
modulation of drug-related behavior by conditioning.
Therefore, to understand the underlying neural basis
for alcohol and drug addiction, we need to investigate
neuronal function in real-time, within animal models of
addictive behavior. Our laboratory uses extracellular
ensemble neurophysiological recording to measure the
activity of neurons in awake-behaving rodents during
the operant self-administration of alcohol, other drugs
of abuse, and natural rewards. These studies examine
the contribution of neural activity patterns within the
brain reward circuitry to alcohol and drug-seeking
behavior. We also use behavioral pharmacological
techniques to understand the contribution of specific
neurochemical and neuroanatomical systems to the
effects of alcohol on behavior. We are especially
interested in the mechanisms that underlie the ability
of conditioned cues and contexts to drive
reward-seeking behavior.
Lab Members
Cory Blaiss, Assistant Research
Scientist, coryb@gallo.ucsf.edu
Zack Chadick, Postdoctoral Fellow, jchadick@gallo.ucsf.edu
Saemi Cho, Staff Research Associate, scho@gallo.ucsf.edu
Myra Engalla, Laboratory Aide, mengalla@gallo.ucsf.edu
Sarah Fischbach, Graduate Student, sfischbach@gallo.ucsf.edu
Michael Gill, Senior Research Scientist, mgill@gallo.ucsf.edu
Ronald Keiflin, Postdoctoral Fellow, rkeiflin@gallo.ucsf.edu
Alexandra Loucks, Graduate Student, aloucks@gallo.ucsf.edu
Pierre-Marie Martin, Visiting Scholar, pmartin@gallo.ucsf.edu
Hong Nie, Associate Research Scientist, hongn@gallo.ucsf.edu
Rebecca Reese, Staff Research Associate, rreese@gallo.ucsf.edu
Lacey Sahuque, Staff Research Associate, lsahuque@gallo.ucsf.edu
Susan Sangha, Postdoctoral Fellow, ssangha@gallo.ucsf.edu
Elizabeth Steinberg, Graduate Student, esteinberg@gallo.ucsf.edu
Kate Vitale, Graduate Student, kvitale@gallo.ucsf.edu
Catherine Woods, Staff Research Associate, cwoods@gallo.ucsf.edu
Mimi Zou, Staff Research Associate, mzou@gallo.ucsf.edu
Publications
Patricia Janak's publications
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