Author: Wilbrecht
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Brief cognitive training interventions in young adulthood promote long-term resilience to drug-seeking behavior
Environmental stress and deprivation increase vulnerability to substance use disorders in humans and promote drug-seeking behavior in animal models. In contrast, experiences of mastery and stability may shape neural circuitry in ways that build resilience to future challenges. Cognitive training offers a potential intervention for reducing vulnerability in the face of environmental stress or deprivation.…
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Adolescent maturation of inhibitory inputs onto cingulate cortex neurons is cell-type specific and TrkB dependent
The maturation of inhibitory circuits during adolescence may be tied to the onset of mental health disorders such as schizophrenia. Neurotrophin signaling likely plays a critical role in supporting inhibitory circuit development and is also implicated in psychiatric disease. Within the neocortex, subcircuits may mature at different times and show differential sensitivity to neurotrophin signaling.…
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Review: Between the Primate and “Reptilian” Brain: Rodent Models Demonstrate the Role of the Corticostriatal Circuits in Decision Making
Decision making can be defined as the flexible integration and transformation of information from the external world into action. Recently, the development of novel genetic tools and new behavioral paradigms has made it attractive to study behavior of all kinds in rodents. By some perspectives, rodents are not an acceptable model for the study of…
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Carolyn Johnson is now Carolyn Johnson, Ph.D.!
Thanks to her committee Drs. Yi Zuo, Michael Stryker, Patricia Janak and Kevin Bender!
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Identification of a Brainstem Circuit Regulating Visual Cortical State in Parallel with Locomotion
Sensory processing is dependent upon behavioral state. In mice, locomotion is accompanied by changes in cortical state and enhanced visual re- sponses. Although recent studies have begun to elucidate intrinsic cortical mechanisms underlying this effect, the neural circuits that initially couple locomotion to cortical processing are unknown. The mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR) has been shown…
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Research Discussed by Alison Gopnik in the Wall Street Journal
A paper by Professor Wilbrecht and her colleagues, Francisco Javier Muñoz-Cuevas, Jegath Athilingam, and Denise Piscopo, is discussed in today’s Wall Street Journal by Professor Alison Gopnik. Citation: Alison Gopnik, Drugged-Out Mice and the Growing Brain, The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 4, 2013, page C2. Related: Francisco Javier Muñoz-Cuevas, Jegath Athilingam, Denise Piscopo, Linda Wilbrecht,…
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Cocaine-induced structural plasticity in frontal cortex correlates with conditioned place preference
Contextual cues associated with previous drug exposure can trigger drug craving and seeking, and form a substantial obstacle in substance use recovery. Using in vivo imaging in mice, we found that cocaine administration induced a rapid increase in the formation and accumulation of new dendritic spines, and that measures of new persistent spine gain correlated…
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A. Moses Lee to defend his docotoral thesis!
August 23rd at 10 AM in Rock Hall at UCSF Mission Bay Campus
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Wilbrecht Lab @ UC Berkeley
The Wilbrecht Lab has moved to the University of California, Berkeley! Linda Wilbrecht is now Assistant Professor of Psychology, and affiliated with the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. Prospective graduate students interested in the lab should now apply to UC Berkeley graduate programs.