Bartholomew J. Naughton

B.S. in Molecular Genetics, The Ohio State University

Thesis Advisor:  Howard Gu

E-Mail:  naughton.7@osu.edu

Research:

Addiction to psychoactive drugs leads to neurological and behavioral changes that can be very long lasting, often persisting for the duration of one’s lifetime. These changes are thought to mediate the relentless nature of addiction. Preventing the formation of or reversing these changes is likely to reduce withdrawal and relapse in drug addicted patients. Current pharmacological interventions are often ineffective due to the complexity of these underlying systems, and the poor specificity characteristic of current therapeutics. As a neuropharmacological lab, we are devoted to studying the specific processes that underlie these behavioral and neuronal changes. Our hope is to better the treatment of drug addicted patients through acquiring a better understanding of the molecular basis of these changes. I am investigating molecular techniques which will allow our lab to target specific nuclei and pathways within the cocaine addicted brain of mice. These techniques will include generation of transgenic mouse lines, assessment of addiction related behaviors, immunohistochemical staining, in vitro cell culture techniques, real time PCR of central nervous system signaling effectors and virus-mediated shRNA delivery. Through a combination of these molecular approaches, I hope to define the role of specific CNS signaling systems in the process of cocaine drug wanting and drug seeking behaviors. The specificity of our interventions will allow us to make more concrete conclusions about the ‘addicted brain’ and will hopefully one day translate into more reliable therapeutic interventions.