My primary interests are in studying the physiological mechanisms of action of ethanol on the nervous system that regulate behavioral ingestion of the drug. Goals are to identify specific substrates with which ethanol interacts that are involved in controlling intake and to determine how variation in those substrates leads to excessive consumption. My research utilizes pharmacological and genetic manipulations (i.e., selectively bred lines and knockout models) combined with quantitative measures of ingestive behavior and in vivo electrophysiology to address these issues.
