My general research interests concern the neurobiology of relapse to drug seeking and the interface between neurobiology and behavior in the study of substance abuse. I am particularly interested in how the brain changes at neurotransmitter system and gene expression levels as a consequence of a history of drug exposure, and how these changes are manifest in behavior. Although a number of significant neurobiological changes occur in the early stages of drug withdrawal (first several days), it is the potential for enduring, long-term changes (those that persist or may only emerge after weeks or months of withdrawal), and how these changes may render a former user vulnerable to episodes of relapse, that is of particular interest to me
