Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Erin Calipari lab

I will combine these optogenetics and calcium-imaging techniques with inducible ArcCreERT2 mice which express constructs (GCaMP6f or channelrhodopsin) selectively in cells that are activated by stimuli during a temporally specific window. While D1 and D2 populations play an integral role in driving behavioral outcomes, it is important to determine the precise neuronal ensembles that encode this information and how different ensembles of the same neuronal subtype can have divergent effects on behavioral outcomes. These data will elucidate the cell-type specific engrams that encode cue-cocaine associations, and the mechanisms by which these associations promote relapse.