Dr. Travis Moschak
Biological Sciences
Our lab studies behavioral neuroscience, with a broad interest in the neurocircuitry underlying motivation and addiction. We are specifically interested in the behavioral and neural biomarkers predicting individual differences in drug-seeking behavior. This includes behaviors such as distress tolerance and impulsivity, as well as neural markers such as the oscillatory coherence between brain regions and the neural ensembles within brain regions. Our research focuses on the interactions between frontal, motor, and limbic brain regions, using cutting edge technologies to record and manipulate neural activity on a subsecond timescale. In addition to our interest in addiction, the lab also investigates the underlying neurobiology of motivation, decision-making, and stress.
Project Description
The project examines the role of the brain's "salience network" in the ability to tolerate stressful situations and how that relates to drug-seeking behavior.
Relation to addiction studies
This study directly assesses neural activity in a preclinical model of addiction.
Research questions
Specifically our research will address the following questions:
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How do different behaviors (e.g. impulsivity, distress tolerance) predict drug-seeking behavior, and what brain regions underlie this relationship?
Significance of the work
In 2019, over 70,000 people in the United States died of a drug overdose, part of an ongoing trend that has seen a sharp increase over previous years. Multiple behavioral traits are risk factors for drug use and relapse, but the neuroscience underlying the relationship between these risk factors and drug use is understudied. Thus, our labs seeks to characterize these relationships with the goal of providing neural targets for therapeutic intervention.
Methods to be learned
We use sophisticated behavioral tasks in conjunction with multiple neuroscientific methods to assess the neural underpinnings of drug-seeking and its behavioral predictors. This includes in vivo electrophysiology and calcium imaging to record neural activity, and optogenetics to manipulate neural activity. Alongside this students will have the opportunity to learn neurosurgery, brain tissue histology, and data analysis.
