Influences of Early Developmental Insults on Adult Behaviour : Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience : ... : School of Psychology : University of Sussex

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Tamzin Ripley: consequences of addiction: impact of drugs or early life stress on adult behaviour

What are the long-term consequences of binge exposure to alcohol during adolescence on impulse control and cognition?

How do early life stressful experiences alter emotional and cognitive processes, and how might these changes effect susceptibility to future drug taking?

What are the brain mechanisms that support cognitive flexibility? And how can such knowledge improve the treatment of schizophrenia?

Homepage for Tamzin Ripley

Collaborators: Dora Duka, Dai Stephens, Sarah King, Hans Crombag, Pete Clifton, Ayana Gibbs
Research staff: Yolanda Pena-Oliver
Research students: Maxine Borton, Sandra Sanchez Roige, Ian Sloss

See also: Alcobinge project

Sarah King: molecular and neurobiological mechanisms; gene manipulation and molecular biology

How do specific genetic polymorphisms affect cognition/addictive behaviours across the lifespan, and how do drugs interact with these processes?

How do subtypes of GABA_A receptor in specific cells of the nucleus accumbens mediate the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse?

How do variations in GABA_A receptor subunit genes interact with environmental events (e.g. early life stress) to influence addiction-related behaviour?

How does drug exposure (nicotine) in early development impact on corticothalamic circuits and drive changes in stress reactivity / behaviour in adulthood?

What are the molecular consequences of adolescent binge alcohol exposure that underlie changes in behaviour?

Homepage for Sarah King

Collaborators: Dora Duka, Dai Stephens, Tamzin Ripley, Jennifer Rusted
Research Staff: Claire Dixon, Sophie Walker
Research student: Tom MacPherson

Dai Stephens: behavioural neuroscience, behavioural genetics, alcohol, cocaine, addiction, impulsivity, GABAA receptors, incentive Learning, psychopharmacology

How does drug and alcohol abuse alter the brain, and what are the consequences for future control over drug taking?

How do differences in function of GABAergic synapses in the nucleus accumbens alter the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse? And how do genetic variations in these systems interact with environmental events to influence drug taking and seeking?

How do genes interact with early-life stress to influence risk for addictive behaviour?

How can we make sure that what we study in animals has relevance for human addictive behaviour?

Homepage for Dai Stephens

Collaborators: Dora Duka, Hans Crombag, Tamzin Ripley, Sarah King
Research Staff: Claire Dixon, Sophie Walker,