We are excited to welcome our new BoBI member Dr. Therese A. Kosten. Dr. Kosten is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston.

She describes her research interests below.

“The overarching theme of our research program is to understand the contributions of genetic and environmental factors that influence and shape behavior via the involvement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems. I study how behaviors reflective of addiction (e.g., self-administration, conditioned place preference, etc) are affected by stress, sex, and early life manipulations. Another aspect of my research can be considered translational as it involves medication development. For example, we are constructing and testing vaccines for methamphetamine abuse and are identifying new pharmacological targets for alcoholism that we test using maintenance and reinstatement of operant responding for alcohol procedures. Broadly, my research program encompasses the areas of motivation, emotion, and learning with a focus on limbic regions, such as the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus.”