Student Projects
Striatal substrates of cocaine addiction
Aim: determine how alterations in dopamine and glutamate neurotransmission in the rat striatum underlie the progression of cocaine use to cocaine addiction.
Experimental work: drug self-administration, stereotaxic surgery, behavioral pharmacology
Contact: Louk Vanderschuren
The neurobiology of social motivation and reward
Aim: determine which neural systems are involved in the motivational and rewarding properties of social play behavior in adolescent rats.
Experimental work: place conditioning, runway conditioning, visual analysis of behavior, behavioral pharmacology
Contact: Louk Vanderschuren
The genetic basis of alcohol abuse
Aim: determine which genes are responsible for the escalation of alcohol intake in mice.
Experimental work: drug self-administration, PCR, in situ hydridisation
Contact: Louk Vanderschuren
