My primary research interests center upon the role of amino-acid derived neurotransmitter systems and synaptic transmission in alterations that underlie a variety of forms of neural functioning and pathologies. These include synaptic changes that occur during the induction and expression of alcohol-related disorders, learning and memory, neuronal development and the development of epilepsy. Major techniques in use in my lab include virtually all in vitro electrophysiological measures in use in neuroscience today (from extracellular recordings of synaptic plasticity to patch clamp recording of quantal synaptic currents). Another faculty in my group, Regina Maldve, PhD, oversees the protein and molecular techniques in our research program and focuses upon kinase-dependent alterations underlying ethanol neuroadaptation in amygdala structures.