Third year TNP student Michael Lisieski is awarded a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience New Investigator Grant for his project "Normalizing a high-risk cocaine-induced phenotype via locus coeruleus modulation". Mr. Lisieski is a student in Dr. Shane Perrine's laboratory; this award will contribute to Michael's dissertation project. This study will determine whether pretreatment with an alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonist can attenuate binge cocaine-induced hyperactivity to novelty conditions - a phenotype related to future drug self-administration/relapse and externalizing disorders. This research could prove important for understanding mechanisms underlying the role of initial psychostimulant exposure to risk of drug-use progression and its comorbidity with psychiatric conditions.

The DPBN New Investigator Grant program provides generous pilot funding (from Helene Lycaki/Joe Young, Sr. Funds from the State of Michigan) for innovative and potentially impactful studies that are proposed by junior scientists in our department. The expectation is that findings from these studies will be used to secure significant external funding for programmatic investigation.