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Tiffany M. Love B.S. |
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| Neuroscience Program | ||
Advisor: Dr. Jon-Kar Zubieta
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MBNI, 205 Zina Pitcher Pl, Room 1054 |
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734-615-6120 |
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Undergraduate Institution: University of New Mexico |
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Undergraduate Major: Biology/Psychology |
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| tiflove@umich.edu | ||
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| This research seeks to identify and understand how biological, behavioral, and environmental factors interact to bring about differences in the vulnerability to abuse drugs. In animal models, rats exhibiting high rates of locomotor activity and exploratory behavior under the mild stress of a novel environment have been found to be more likely to self-administer drugs of abuse. This behavior is similar to what is seen in humans, as poor impulse control and novelty-seeking traits have been identified as major risk factors for the development of substance use disorders. While it is clear that susceptibility differences exist in the tendency to abuse drugs and that certain behavioral traits and stress responses may confer some vulnerability, the neurochemical processes underlying these vulnerabilities is not well understood. With its proposed roles in stress, reward, responses to novel stimuli, and the actions of drugs of abuse, the endogenous opioid system is likely to be involved in determining an individualís propensity to participate in drug-seeking behavior and to develop a substance use disorder. I am interested in examining the relationship between these behavioral-trait risk factors and stress-induced mu-opioid neurotransmission in humans using positron emission tomography (PET). This research aims to achieve an understanding of the interindividual variation in the response of the mu-opioid system to stress, which may impart susceptibility or resistance to the initiation of drug use. | ||
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Jung RE, Yeo RA, Love TM, Petropoulos H, Sibbitt, WL, & Brooks, WM. (2002). Biochemical markers of mood: a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of normal human brain. Biological Psychiatry 51(3), 224-229 Hutsler JJ., Love T & Zhang H (in press, 2006). Histological and MRI assessment of cortical layering and thickness in autism spectrum disorders. Biological Psychiatry
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| Last updated 2/16/2006 Click here to update | Times viewed |
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